Days Getting Longer as Earth Spins Slower Due To Climate Change

Researchers say emissions from human activity are having a greater impact on our planet than we might realize.

The speed at which the Earth rotates dictates exactly how long a day is. The slower it turns, the longer a day is.

Melting ice caps may have a bigger influence on the length of a day than previously thought, new research has found, Rosie Frost reported for Euronews.

This human-caused consequence of climate change is slowing the speed at which the Earth rotates, increasing the length of a day. It amounts to just a few milliseconds but could have significant impacts in our modern, high-tech world as many of the computer systems we use every day rely on very precise atomic clocks.

And, researchers say, it shows climate change could have a much bigger impact on the Earth’s spin than initially thought. The speed at which the Earth rotates dictates exactly how long a day is. The slower it turns, the longer a day is.

This is influenced by a complicated mesh of different factors which include the gravitational pull of the moon on our oceans and land.

For millennia, the moon has been the dominating factor, adding a few milliseconds to a day per century. It pulls on Earth, causing oceans to bulge towards it gradually slowing the spin of the planet.

Previous research has found that human-caused climate change is also having an impact.

As the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets melt due to global warming, this water is redistributed from the poles of the planet to oceans closer to the equator. This changes the shape of Earth, flattening the poles and making it fatter in the middle which slows its rotation.