Climate change is increasing the length of the day

What is it about?

The duration of a day is not exactly 24 hours (or 86400 seconds), but rather deviates from this nominal value by a few milliseconds. For billions of years, the most important contributor to the increase in the length of day has been the gravitational pulling of the Moon, which gradually slows down the Earth's rotation. The recent study, however, shows that if unabated, the influence of ongoing climate change can surpass the effect of the Earth-Moon dynamics, thereby increasingly slowing down the Earth's rotation.

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Photo by William Bossen on Unsplash

Photo by William Bossen on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Precise timekeeping relies on the measurements of Earth's rotation. In order for the time, which is tied to Earth's rotation, to follow atomic clocks, occasionally the so-called leap seconds are introduced, which have significant implications for our world that relies on precise timekeeping. If the climate change increasingly influences the length of day, then this would impact the frequency by which leap seconds might have to be introduced. Furthermore, the spacecraft navigation requires precise knowledge of Earth's rotation to navigate in space. Minor deviations in the length of day can have large impacts on the position of the spacecraft, making it difficult to operate properly, e.g., land on the desired spot on a planet.

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