Earth's rotation slowed down by climate change - with curious consequences

It's like a figure skater. If her arms are stretched straight upwards, she turns extremely quickly. If she opens her arms to the side, the rotation slows down considerably. You can also call it conservation of angular momentum.

The same thing is happening to the earth right now. As a result of global warming, unimaginably large quantities of ice are melting on the polar ice caps. This mass ends up in the oceans and is distributed evenly, just like the spinning figure skater who stretches her arms out to the side.

This slows down the Earth's rotation because the mass distribution changes, and it becomes more difficult for the Earth to rotate. As a result, the days are getting longer.

This newly observed phenomenon only coincides with two other phenomena that influence the length of our days. Firstly, there is the moon, which has been moving away from the earth for millions of years. It draws energy from the entire system, which is why it constantly slows down the Earth's rotation.

This can be verified by solar eclipses, which were precisely documented even 2,000 years ago. However, at different times of day than would be calculated using our current day length. The solution to the riddle: the days were shorter. Calculated over thousands of years, this adds up to a few hours.

In addition, the speed of rotation fluctuates due to seismic activity. A process has been underway since the 1970s that increases the speed at which the Earth rotates.

As a result, the development of day length has been reversed and seconds have to be skipped at intervals of a few years. Progressive climate change is now slowing down this effect. According to the study, the skipping of a second can currently be postponed from 2026 to 2029.

The positive aspect of this is that most computer systems are apparently not sufficiently prepared for this type of time adjustment. So a later date is definitely better than an earlier one.

And it shows the unforeseen global consequences - albeit in this case of a rather harmless nature - of global warming.