Science Daily April 25, 2021
Generally, polar motion is caused by changes in the hydrosphere, atmosphere, oceans, or solid Earth. However, short‐term observational records of key information in the hydrosphere limit a better understanding of new polar drift in the 1990s. An international team of researchers (China, Denmark) has introduced a novel approach to quantify the contribution from changes in terrestrial water storage by comparing its drift path under two different scenarios. One scenario assumes that the terrestrial water storage change throughout the entire study period (1981–2020) is similar to that observed recently (2002–2020). The second scenario assumes that it changed from observed glacier ice melting. Only the latter scenario, along with the atmosphere, oceans, and solid Earth, agrees with the polar motion during the period of 1981–2020. According to the researchers an accelerated terrestrial water storage decline resulting from glacial ice melting is the main driver of the rapid polar drift toward the east after the 1990s. The new finding indicates that a close relationship existed between polar motion and climate change in the past…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
BFAST‐detected polar drift in the 1990s from January 1981 to June 2020. Credit: Geophysical Research Letters, 22 March 2021