Polar melting is affecting Earth’s rotation, increasing the length of days

According to two new studies published in the journals Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) and Nature Geoscience, Data collected shows that melting polar ice caps are affecting the length of days on EarthUnfortunately, this is not a natural process on our planet, but a problem caused by human activities: the acceleration of climate change in the world we live in.

Another recent paper suggested that melting polar ice could change the length of time on Earth. In fact, the researchers point out that the current rate of melting suggests that adding a leap day to 2026, as planned, is probably not necessary.

According to Benedikt Soja, professor at ETH Zurich (Switzerland) and co-author of the study published by PNAS, the impact of humans on the planet is greater than civilization could have ever imagined. This is not surprising Two studies suggest melting polar ice caps could cause days on the planet to increase — the time difference will not be significant enough to change the perception of living beings.

“When the Earth’s ice caps melt, the planet’s rotation pattern also changes. Researchers at ETH Zurich have now succeeded in showing how climate change is changing the Earth’s rotation axis and the length of the day. The rotation speed, which was previously mostly influenced by the Moon, will now also depend more on the climate,” an official statement from ETH Zurich explains.

Melting of the poles and increasing day length

As new research explains, climate change in recent years has caused ice to melt in the Antarctic and Greenland regions. As a result, Melting ice turns into water and flows into the planet’s oceansIt is precisely this process that can affect the rotation of the Earth and thus increase the length of days.

Water released into the oceans is carried away from the poles to lower latitudes, thus slowing down the planet’s rotation rate. This results in an increase of a few milliseconds per hour. At the end of the paper, the researchers concluded that if humans continue to produce greenhouse gases at the same rate, the ‘polar rebound’ effect will be greater than the Moon’s effect on Earth.

“Even if the Earth’s rotation changes gradually, this effect needs to be taken into account when navigating through space, for example when sending a space probe to land on another planet. Otherwise, it would not be possible to land in a specific crater on Mars,” Soja said.

Did you like the content? Then share the news on your social networks with your friends who love science and astronomy. If you wish, take the opportunity to understand how the Earth turned into a snowball 717 million years ago. On to the next one!