Since 1899, various government agencies and academic centers around the world have recognized and measured the east-west off-set of the earth’s north-south axis of rotation. In a 6-14 year cycle this change can be from 20-60 inches and is referred to as earth’s wobble. Until 2000 this condition was primarily a scientific oddity except for those plotting space ventures, celestial observatories, astronomers and explorers. As societies became more dependent on GPS for a myriad of tasks, accuracy needs to be increased. That 20 to 60 inches doesn’t sound like much, but basic trigonometry tells us it’s enough to put a plane at the wrong airport, an ambulance on the wrong side of town or you at the wrong restaurant. It became apparent that there was a need to program the wobble dimension and direction into satellite software for all civilian, military and scientific satellites in real time for accuracy. Numerous math models were developed to predict the when of the next movement along with its magnitude and direction. None succeeded. Missing, of course, was why it was happening.
In 2016, NASA, in collaboration with the German Aerospace Center, released a peer-reviewed study that, though heavy on correlation, placed the causation of the wobble along with its magnitude and direction (vector) on the planet’s surface water not including lakes and rivers. In essence, a wet season on a substantial land mass will tilt the axis toward it thus defining the direction. The magnitude will be determined by the longitudinal distance from the equator and is maximized in a +/- 45o band. This last comment is based on a physics mathematical representation of a spinning object beyond the understanding of this author. This entire study apparently is as close as we have come to being able to take a predictive lead on the wobble. As no surprise, some in the scientific community continue to express beliefs about glacial ice melting being a wobble-causing component due to – you guessed it– global warming. Any chance that the tilt is part of the warming as opposed to or in addition to CO2?
The San Diego Union Tribune ran an article on June 29, 2023, that adds a new component to the cause of the tilt. According to Ki-Weon Seo, professor of geophysics at Seoul National University (Korea), and his research associates, a contributor and perhaps a major contributor to the tilt action is the worldwide water withdrawal of 75 trillion gallons annually from wells. This is data from 1960-2000 and it is presumed that it continues to this day. They also point to the earth’s crust still unevenly rebounding after millions of years of ice age coating. 70% of usable water is destined for agriculture or food production to supplement rainfall. The world population went from 3 to 8 billion between 1960 and 2022 but appears to be stabilizing at nearly 8 billion for the foreseeable future. Replenishment (recharging) of groundwater sources is probably running <2% annually, so as wells run dry they will stay that way for decades. To continue feeding 8 billion people, drastic changes need to be made:
- Stop or severely reduce non-food crops, Corn for ethanol, hay, decorative plants & shrubs, etc.
- Stop or severely reduce crops for animal feed. Necessitates severe reduction of animal protein diets.
- Eliminate high water use crops such as rice and almonds.
- Encourage plant gene splicing so they thrive on less water.
- Eliminate organic crops.
- Learn and practice irrigation methods from the Israelis.
- Stop water treatment processes that wastewater.
