Climate change is making days longer, according to new research

Climate Change is making the days longer, as the melting of glaciers and polar ice sheets cause water to move closer to the equator, fattening the planet and slowing its rotation, according to a study recent study.

Research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences used observations and reconstructions to track mass variations on Earth’s surface since 1900.

In the 20th century, researchers found that between 0.3 milliseconds per century and 1 millisecond per century were added to the length of a day per century. climate-induced increases. Since 2000, they found that number has accelerated to 1.3 milliseconds per century.

“We can see our impact as humans on the entire Earth system, not just locally, like increasing temperature, but fundamentally, changing the way it moves in space and rotates,” said Benedikt Soja of ETH Zurich in Switzerland. . told the British newspaper Guardian. “Because of our carbon emissions, we did this in just 100 or 200 years, whereas government processes previously took place billions of years ago. And that’s impressive.”

The researchers stated that, in scenarios of high greenhouse gas emissions, the climate-induced increase in day length will continue to grow and could reach a rate twice the current rate. This could have implications for a range of technologies that humans rely on, such as navigation.

“All data centers that manage the Internet, communications and financial transactions are based on precise timing,” Soja said. “We also need accurate knowledge of time for navigation, and particularly for satellites and spacecraft.”

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