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NASA study of Earth center of mass oscillations

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2026-09-21 22:53 UTC → 2026-09-22 19:15 UTC · added ~~removed~~

Researchers from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory have published findings in the Geophysical Journal International regarding the seasonal oscillation of Earth’s center of mass relative to its geometric center. Initial reports indicated that the annual redistribution of approximately 6.3 trillion tons of water between continents and oceans causes the center of mass to shift. This movement is driven by factors such as snow accumulation and water movement in the Amazon region, resulting in a global mean sea level fluctuation of about 17.3 millimeters. Subsequent analysis using hybrid satellite tracking techniques, including GPS data and low-orbit satellites, refined these measurements. The updated study suggests that the annual movement of the planet’s mass center is approximately half of previous estimates. This indicates that there is less water and air moving between hemispheres than previously assumed, suggesting the two regions may be less interconnected. By accounting for the uneven distribution of ground-based observatories, researchers reduced uncertainty to less than a millimeter. This higher level of accuracy resolves previous discrepancies in global geodesy and provides more precise navigational benchmarks for technologies that rely on exact geographic references, such as GPS, satellite navigation, and digital mapping. Specific seasonal drivers include snow accumulation in the Northern Hemisphere, ocean current changes, and heavy rainfall. For example, during the Amazon Basin's rainy season in April, the accumulation of approximately 2,400 gigatonnes of water can shift the Earth's center of mass by about 2.2 millimeters toward South America.

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