Melting polar ice is making Earth rounder at an accelerating rate

A study in JGR Solid Earth found that melting polar ice caps are making the solid Earth rounder: the poles rise and the equatorial bulge shrinks by about 1 mm per year in 2011–2015, versus 0.5 mm per year in 1997–2000. The rounding accelerates by roughly 0.4 mm per year each decade.

• Poles rise and the equator bulge shrinks ~1 mm per year in 2011–2015
• In 1997–2000 rounding was twice slower at 0.5 mm per year
• Rounding accelerates by about 0.4 mm per year per decade
• Including the ocean, the planet is flattening by 0.8 mm per year