In the latest pursuit of understanding the global warming and climate change patterns, it has come to our understanding that the entire continent of Australia is moving in a northwest direction. According to the latest findings from the University of New Castle in New South Wales, Australia shows that when summer hits the Southern Hemisphere, Australia literally tilts towards Europe.
Researchers have found out the entire continent of Australia sinks and then rise by a few millimeters due to a massive change in water mass. This change in water mass is forced in to play because of the change in seasons.
Due to heavy rainfall, snowfall and increase in ice during winter in the Northern Hemisphere the shift in mass causes the Australian continent to tilt towards Europe. The north-western corner of Australia sinks, while the south-eastern corner rises.
When the season changes and the southern hemisphere get winters in July, the Australia tilts in the opposite direction, causing a yearly clockwise rotation coined as “seasonal gyration”.
These findings were made by the GRACE satellites (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) which measure the ground deformation in relation to the Earth’s centre of mass. This discovery has opened a huge hallway for the scientists to explore more about the Earth.
It has been common perception that the Earth’s centre of mass isn’t a fixed. There has been huge uncertainty around its actual motion. By co relating the GRACE data with GPS data has revealed how the Earth’s CM moves with the changing when aligned with the seasons.
Scientists said that the next step for this research will be to look at how both the pre-2010 drought and the 2010-2012 La Niña events have affected continental movement.
Image Credit: Instagram