Large hydro dams have shifted the earth's poles

[Trav]

I learned in elementary school how the Three Gorges Dam slowed the rotation of the Earth. It would make sense that the redistribution of mass would change the angular momentum of the Earth, much like a load of laundry in the washing machine.



Apparently everyone here is a water resources engineer and an expert in hydrology....although not surprising with how many think some dude flies around the sky and makes things out of thin air.

A lot of things redistribute mass on the planet, an iceberg the size of Rhode Island this year or the B15 iceberg from the Ross ice shelf in 2000 breaking off, I can see that would have some effect. Just the thought that man can change the ways of nature or alter the planet in any meaningful way sends me running for the tin foil hat.
I look at the source, if it is from a university or special interest group anything published as far as earth sciences goes is automatically suspect as there is just too much agenda driven tripe and deliberate academic fraud. JMHO

 

[OVERKILL]

Amazing because I just read an article saying that the Earth's rotation was speeding up.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/07/22/july-22-shortest-day-earth/85311440007/

Unfortunately that article doesn't mention that we've been adding "leap seconds" to years over the years because the earth has slowed. That's covered in this article:
https://www.theguardian.com/environ...stralias-experts-give-us-their-second-opinion

So while we may have the odd short day, in general, the trend has been a slowing down.

 

[Pew]

In 1998 Dr. Andrew Wakefield and other colleagues presented a paper that suggested that the MMR vaccine causes autism in children. Unless you have been living under a rock for the last three decades, you have surely heard about this. Again pier studies did not support the conclusions. Ten of the twelve co-authors of the paper retracted their claims. After careful scrutiny from the medical research field, Dr. Wakefield later confessed to totally fabricating critical items of the study, which made the rest of the study unsupported. Wakefield was found guilty of deliberate fraud. I lost track, but I believe criminal charges were brought against him in England.

So yea, I never blindly accept any scientific study. Show me the methods. Show me the confidence interval. I may not understand everything, but I can at least come to believe whether they did their due diligence.

I remember that study. It made a resurgence mid-last decade and again when cv19 started and all the anti-vaxxers and YouTube experts pointed to it or half-sewn articles about it. Unfortunately I know someone who squarely blames their kid's autism because of the mmr vaccine but that parent isn't too bright herself.

I agree with you on doing your due diligence and continuing your own research for similar topics. Researching the unknown is always fun; not understanding something doesn't mean it should be kept in the dark. My dad always said if you don't understand something then go read a book (aka go learn about it.)

But regarding this specific article, the Three Gorges Dam did slow down the rotation by a insignificant but measurable amount. It would not surprise me if a combination of other large dams did the same.