Scientists (today) recorded the shortest day on Earth since the invention of the atomic clock.
Our planet’s rotation measured in at 1.59 milliseconds short of the normal 24-hour day on June 29, according to the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service, an organization in charge of global timekeeping.
A rotation is the length of time the Earth takes to spin once on its axis, which is roughly 86,400 seconds.
The previous record was documented on July 19, 2020, when the day measured 1.47 milliseconds shorter than normal.
Despite June 29 breaking a record for the shortest day in modern history, there have been much shorter days on Earth, he said.
When dinosaurs still roamed the planet 70 million years ago, a single day on Earth lasted about 23 1/2 hours, according to a 2020 study published in Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology.
Researchers do not have a definitive answer on how or why Earth is turning slightly faster, but it may be due to glacial isostatic adjustment, or the movement of land due to melting glaciers
Researchers do not have a definitive answer on how or why Earth is turning slightly faster, but it may be due to glacial isostatic adjustment, or the movement of land due to melting glaciers
The only reason I can think of for the earth to be spinning faster is conservation of angular momentum as it cools and shrinks and very heavy things move closer to the poles. (Is continental drift currently moving anything closer to the poles?)
Tides should be making it spin slower.
Maybe that asteroid 65 million years ago delivered more angular momentum than we think? Problem is, that would also make a bigger impact, and there’s a limit to how big the impact could have been.
Researchers do not have a definitive answer on how or why Earth is turning slightly faster, but it may be due to glacial isostatic adjustment, or the movement of land due to melting glaciers
At the same time, we read that…
Earth’s Days Have Been Mysteriously Increasing in Length https://scitechdaily.com/earths-days-have-been-mysteriously-…
Precise astronomical observations, combined with atomic clocks, have revealed that the length of a day is suddenly getting longer. Scientists don’t know why. This has critical impacts not just on our timekeeping, but also on things like GPS and other precision technologies that govern our modern life.
Earth’s rotation around its axis has been speeding up over the past few decades. Since this determines how long a day is, this trend has been making our days shorter. In fact, in June 2022 we set a record for the shortest day over the past half a century or so.
However, despite this record, since 2020 that steady speedup has curiously switched to a slowdown. Now, days are getting longer again, and the reason so far remains a mystery.