India, May 1 -- Earth has become slightly less spherical & more flattened due to movement of water from pole to equator

Earth's rotation has slowed down because of human activity. This could have been caused by the melting of polar ice due to human-induced global warming and subsequent movement of water towards the equator, a paper published in the journal Nature on March 27, 2024 showed.

Due to the movement of water from the pole to the equator, Earth has become slightly less spherical and more flattened. As a result, the moment of inertia of Earth, which is a measure of how spread its mass is, has increased.

The angular momentum of a spinning body, which is the product of its moment of inertia and angular velocity, is conserved unles...