The Earth is spinning slower and it’s the fault of global warming

Global warming, beyond its well-known effects such as rising temperatures, melting ice and rising sea levels, also has a subtle impact on the Earth’s rotation. By slightly slowing down this rotation, the phenomenon causes an imperceptible but measurable lengthening of the length of days. But what does this imply?

Melting ice is changing the distribution of water on Earth

According to a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), global warming is causing the melting of ice caps in Antarctica, Greenland, and many glaciers in the polar regions. This melting has the consequence of redistributing water masses towards the equatorial regions, thus modifying the distribution of masses on the planet.

This redistribution slightly slows the Earth’s rotation, thus lengthening the length of days by a few milliseconds. Since the year 2000, the day has lengthened by about 1.33 milliseconds per century due to climate change, and this trend could accelerate, reaching 2.62 milliseconds per century by 2100 if greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase significantly.

Will electronic systems have problems?

The increase in daylight hours may seem insignificant at first glance, but it has important implications for land and space navigation. GPS systems, computer servers, telecommunications technologies, and financial transaction devices all depend on precise synchronization between Universal Time (based on the Earth’s rotation) and International Atomic Time (developed using atomic clocks).

To function properly, all of the technical systems mentioned above require that Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) be adjusted to take into account these small variations in the length of the day. This can be done by adding leap seconds, ensuring that universal time and international atomic time coincide to within 0.9 seconds.

Scientists point out that neglecting these changes could lead to major disruptions in global timing systemswhich would potentially reduce the accuracy of financial transactions, the stability of communications networks and space navigation.

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