Geophysicist Duncan Agnew published a scientific article in the journal Nature talking about climate change and the change in the mass of the Earth. This defies international timekeeping standards.
Internationally agreed upon Universal Time, or UTC, is set by atomic clocks but is also constantly adjusted. Moreover, the Earth’s rotation does not always occur at the same speed. This is due, among other things, to the gravitational resistance of the Sun and Moon, changes in the rotation rate of the Earth’s core, friction between ocean waters and the seafloor, shifts in the distribution of the planet’s mass around its surface, and earthquakes.
However, even the effect of the earthquake on the Earth’s rotation rate is much less than the effect of melting ice sheets.
Currently, the largest changes in the planet’s rotation occur in its core. Slowing down its rotation actually speeds up the rotation of the outer layers. In effect, this will mean that timekeepers in the current system will have to start subtracting leap seconds from UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) to synchronize time with the Earth’s rotation rate.
Source: Ferra
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