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So much ice is melting that Earth’s crust is moving

As the continents’ frozen burden dissipates, the ground deforms — not only in the immediate area, but also in far-flung locations.
Landscape on the Greenland Ice Sheet

Melting on the Greenland ice sheet is contributing to the sideways slip of Earth’s crust. Credit: Martin Zwick/REDA&CO/Universal Images Group/Getty

The loss of melting ice from land masses such as Greenland and Antarctica is causing the planet’s crust to warp slightly, even in spots more than 1,000 kilometres from the ice loss.

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Nature 597, 10 (2021)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-02285-0

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