The Earth’s shape is gradually becoming more spherical due to climate change-related factors, according to recent scientific analysis. While the planet has long been understood as an oblate spheroid—meaning it is slightly flattened at the poles and bulging at the equator—new data shows these dimensions are shifting subtly over time.

A study using the global navigation satellite system measured changes in the Earth’s form between 2011 and 2015, finding that the polar regions rose and the equatorial bulge diminished at a rate of approximately 1 millimeter per year. This represents an acceleration compared to the 1997 to 2000 period, when the Earth’s roundness increased by about 0.5 millimeters annually. Despite these changes, the equatorial diameter remains roughly 7,926 miles, so the shifts are not perceptible on a human timescale.

Scientists attribute this change primarily to the melting of polar ice caps. As ice masses shrink, pressure on the Earth’s crust at the poles lessens, allowing these regions to rise. Concurrently, meltwater displaced from the poles flows toward the equator, increasing pressure there and causing the crust to flatten slightly. The planet’s interior, although solid on human timescales, behaves in a plastic manner over geological periods, allowing such slow deformation driven by variations in mass distribution.

It is important to note that these findings pertain to the solid Earth itself; the ocean’s surface continues to bulge at the equator due to water’s fluid dynamics. Nonetheless, the measured shifts indicate a tangible link between fossil fuel-driven climate change and the physical reshaping of the planet.

These adjustments also have subtle influences on Earth's rotation, lengthening the duration of a day incrementally. The Earth’s uneven shape produces other notable effects, such as determining which geographical point is farthest from the planet’s center. Due to the equatorial bulge, Mount Chimborazo in Ecuador holds this distinction rather than Mount Everest, despite Everest’s higher elevation above sea level.

Overall, the ongoing transformation in the Earth’s figure underscores complex interactions between climatic forces and geological processes shaped by human activity.