Ice shelf collapse could shift axis of Earth, study says

Ice shelf collapse could shift axis of Earth, study says: "A new study from Toronto researchers suggests that the collapse of a large portion of the Antarctic ice sheet would shift the very axis of the Earth.

Geophysicists at the University of Toronto explored the effects on North America and the globe, if sea levels were to rise due to the collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.

One of the most jarring predictions contained in the report, to be published in the Feb. 6 issue of the journal Science, is that the sea-change could shift the Earth's rotation.

'The melting of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet will actually cause the Earth�s rotation axis to shift rather dramatically -- approximately 500 metres from its present position if the entire ice sheet melts,' states a release from U of T's physics department."