Three Gorges Dam may affect Earth's rotation, NASA reports

The Three Gorges Dam in China, the world's largest operating hydroelectric facility, may be affecting the Earth's rotation. According to research involving NASA, the massive amount of water stored by the dam alters the planet's mass distribution.

Located on the Yangtze River in Hubei province, the dam holds approximately 40 trillion liters of water. This redistribution of mass can impact the Earth's moment of inertia. Theoretically, this effect could shift the Earth's poles by about 2 cm and lengthen a day by approximately 0.06 microseconds.

Dr. Benjamin Fong Chao of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center noted that human-made reservoirs can create similar effects to natural events, such as the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, which shortened the day by 2.68 microseconds by shifting mass within the Earth.