NASA reveals impact of China's Three Gorges Dam on Earth's rotation

IFL Science claims that the Three Gorges Dam, the largest hydroelectric dam in the world, is a massive infrastructural undertaking that is affecting Earth's rotation. Spanning the Yangtze River, the largest river in Eurasia, the dam is situated in the Hubei region of central China.

To spin turbines and produce energy, it harnesses the water flow from the Qutangxia, Wuxia, and Xilingxia gorges.

First identified in 2005, the dam's ability to modify Earth's rotation was linked to the 2004 devastating Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, as reported by the US Space Agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

NASA gave an explanation on their blog about how the planet's moment of inertia can be slightly affected by changes in the distribution of mass on Earth. Similarly, the motion of the tectonic plates can affect Earth's spin after an earthquake, according to the space agency.

NASA claims that this is what transpired in 2004 following the Indian Ocean earthquake. The scientists discovered that the earthquake changed Earth's mass distribution and shortened a day's duration by 2.68 microseconds.

The Earth's rotation can also be altered by a significant movement in water, explained experts.

According to IFL Science, the massive Chinese dam can contain 40 cubic kilometers (10 trillion gallons) of water, as per a 2005 post by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center geophysicist Dr. Benjamin Fong Chao.

His calculations explained that this change in mass would cause the Earth's pole to shift by roughly 2 centimeters and lengthen days by 0.06 microseconds.

Even when measured against the marginal impact of massive earthquakes, it's not much, but for a man-made structure, it's very significant, said the outlet.

It also pointed out that humans influence our planet's rotation in different ways. It said that climate change is currently causing a comparable effect on the Earth's mass distribution.

With rising temperatures, melting polar caps, and swelling tropical seas, the planet's equator has accumulated more mass than its poles. This slows the Earth's spin, resulting in somewhat longer days.