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Earth’s Gravity Is Changing Because The Arctic Is Melting


October 1, 2014 | Rhett Jones

If rising sea levels and erratic temperatures weren’t enough, we can now add gravity fluctuations to the list of things that suck about climate change.

According to a new report from the European Space Agency, there’s been a dip in Earth’s gravity that aligns with the loss of ice in Antarctica.

The agency’s GOCE satellite was launched in 2009 to measure the variations in gravity around the world. Scientists from four different international institutes have studied the data and have agreed that melting ice is the cause for the dip.

Between 2011 and 2014, Antarctica has been shrinking in volume by 125 cubic kilometers a year.

Don’t panic though. You will not be floating away into space or anything. Climate change will kill you in a different way long before that happens. Luckily, the New York Times has a nice report on the “safest” cities to move to “on a warmer planet.” Looks like real estate prices in Detroit aren’t going to be cheap forever, so better snatch it up now.

(Photo: Public Domain Image)