Climate change slows Earth's spin: Day lengthening unprecedented in 3.6 million years

Human-driven climate change is slowing Earth’s rotation at a rate not seen in 3.6 million years. As melting ice shifts mass toward the equator, the planet's spin is dragging enough to lengthen our days by 1.33ms per century, potentially outpacing the Moon

How is climate change slowing Earth's rotation?

Rising seas and shifting mass lengthen our days Earth’s rotation is getting imperceptibly slower as water and other mass move across the planet. Scientists have shown that the redistribution of mass—principally from melting ice and rising sea levels—pushes mass farther from Earth’s axis.…

Rising sea levels are lengthening Earth’s days at an unprecedented rate

Researchers have developed a novel physics-informed deep learning approach that reconstructs Earth’s rotational history with unprecedented precision, revealing that climate change is lengthening days at rates unseen in 3.6 million years. Climate change is lengthening Earth’s days by approximately 1.5 milliseconds per century, according to researchers at the University of Vienna and ETH Zurich. Rising… The post Rising sea levels are lengthening E…

Climate change is slowing Earth's spin at unprecedented rate compared to past 3.6 million years

Climate change is lengthening our days because rising sea levels slow Earth's rotation. Researchers from the University of Vienna and ETH Zurich now show that the current increase in day length-1.33 milliseconds per century-is unprecedented in the past 3.6 million years. The team reconstructed ancient day-length fluctuations using the fossil remains of single-celled marine organisms known as benthic foraminifera.

Climate Change Causes Earth's Rotation to Slow: Day Length Increases

In a remarkable breakthrough that bridges paleoclimatology and Earth’s rotational dynamics, scientists have revealed that modern climate change is causing our days to lengthen at an unprecedented rate. This extension, currently measuring approximately 1.33 milliseconds per century, is primarily driven by rising sea levels induced by the accelerated melting of polar ice and mountain glaciers. The findings not only highlight the intricate connecti…