The retired Naval Observatory director of time explains why timekeepers around the world are still trying to figure out how to incorporate the increasing speed recorded over the past five years.
On June 29, Earth's rotation was measured at 1.59 milliseconds faster than usual, earning international headlines as the "fastest" day on Earth.
This long list includes atmospheric changes, tidal changes from the moon, sea surface changes during El Niño and crustal motion within the interior of the Earth. No surprise, timekeeping is fairly complicated. According to McCarthy, June 29 was the shortest day in recent history but only since the international adaptation of the atomic clock.
"Those observations then indicate that the Earth is not always rotating at the same speed. And how do we measure that? Well, we use a continuous time scale, one that doesn't pay any attention to the rotation of the Earth," McCarthy said.FILE - Icebergs are seen from NASA's Oceans Melting Greenland research aircraft on Sept. 7, 2021, near Upernavik, Greenland.
"Physics would argue then that if we continue to melt glaciers at the current rate, we would continue to maybe increase or, you know, essentially shorten the length of day and increase the Earth's rotation speed," he said.
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