Earth spins faster, creating shortest days in recorded history

[Retro]

Reported by the rather appropriately named Time and Date website, earth has just enjoyed its shortest day ever as it starts to spin a teeny tiny bit faster - yes, we all lost out on 1.59 milliseconds of our weekend! I want it back!

Those scientist boffins who noticed it don't quite know why it's happening, but have various ideas, including the "Chandler wobble" and climate change (yes, that again). It's therefore possible that a negative leap second (subtracting time) may have to be used to keep our super accurate atomic clocks aligned with our wayward earth, but not right now.

Nerd level: squarely in the nerd zone.



An Earth segment. Isn't she a beauty? Oh and clearly not flat, for the hords of flerfs out there.

Earth has recorded its shortest day since scientists began using atomic clocks to measure its rotational speed.

On June 29, 2022, Earth completed one spin in 1.59 milliseconds less than 24 hours. This is the latest in a series of speed records for Earth since 2020.

There's lots of other fascinating stuff at this website for the discerning nerd, so I recommend bookmarking it.

Earth Sets New Record for Shortest Day

On June 29, 2022, Earth recorded its shortest day since scientists began using atomic clocks to measure its rotational speed.

www.timeanddate.com

 

[Arantor]

We also have more people moving around and doing things than we've ever had before. More change than we've ever had before.

Also, more flatulence than we've ever had before...

 

[Retro]

Defo the flatulents.

 

[Tiffany]

Interesting; leap second.....new to me!

Oh and I'm not commenting on y'alls comments, nah-huh....lol

 

[Retro]

Oh and I'm not commenting on y'alls comments, nah-huh....lol

Oh yes you can!

 

[Arantor]

Leap seconds aren't particularly new - but negative leap seconds are a new one, normally what they do is wait until when there would otherwise be a leap second and just not add it. Sort of like why leap years add the extra day when the year's divisible by 4 but if the year ends in 00 it has to be also divisible by 400, so 1900 wasn't a leap year despite being divisible by 4 because it's not also divisible by 400 while 2000 was.

Time is frighteningly complicated.

Leap seconds also mean you can have 23:59:60 as a valid time that comes between 23:59:59 and 00:00:00 and they're usually not added in all in one go, but gradually introduced over the preceding minute so each second is a fraction of a second longer so that 00:00:00 is the point of alignment again.

 

[Tiffany]

@Retro nah-huh, nah-huh....lol

@Arantor Time is complicated even on a simple scale of conversions. I had to read your post twice to let that all sink in. I didn't know how leap years worked mathematically either. Now I've learned something new today.

 

[Retro]

And now the earth is slowing down again, also due to climate change. Seems that there are two conflicting effects here and the slowing one is more dominant. Either way, mankind is screwing up the planet.

The impacts of human-caused climate change are so overwhelming they’re actually messing with time, according to new research.

Polar ice melt caused by global warming is changing the speed of Earth’s rotation and increasing the length of each day, in a trend set to accelerate over this century as humans continue to pump out planet-heating pollution, according to the study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The changes are small — a matter of milliseconds a day — but in our high-tech, hyperconnected world have an important impact on computing systems we have come to rely on, including GPS.

It’s yet another sign of the huge impact humans are having on the planet. “This is a testament to the gravity of ongoing climate change,” said Surendra Adhikari, a geophysicist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and a report author.

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/07/15/climate/polar-ice-melting-day-length-time