1990s turning point (IMAGE)

American Geophysical Union

1990s turning point

Caption

Melting of glaciers in Alaska, Greenland, the Southern Andes, Antarctica, the Caucasus and the Middle East accelerated in the mid-90s, becoming the main driver pushing Earth's poles into a sudden and rapid drift toward 26°E at a rate of 3.28 millimeters (0.129 inches) per year. Color intensity on the map shows where changes in water stored on land (mostly as ice) had the strongest effect on the movement of the poles from April 2004 to June 2020. Inset graphs plot the change in glacier mass (black) and the calculated change in water on land (blue) in the regions of largest influence.

Credit

Credit: Deng et al (2021) Geophysical Research Letters/AGU

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