The Earth recently completed a rotation faster than ever before at 1.59 millisecond under 24 hours, and the consequences for how we keep time have experts around the world alarmed. It could be the first time in world history that global clocks will have to be sped up to keep up with solar time.
What is causing Earth to Spin Faster
- Scientists don't know what is causing the Earth to spin faster than ever before, but some fear it could be "devastating"
Earth experienced its shortest day since records began last month
- Since the Earth's rotation has always largely been slowing down throughout time, atomic clocks have thus far only added positive leap seconds to keep up
- 27 leap seconds have been needed to keep atomic time accurate since the 1970s
- A negative leap second would mean that our clocks skip one second, which could potentially create problems for IT systems
- Meta warned in a blog post last month of the potential consequences for smartphones, computers and communications
Time and Date suggests that the diminishing length of the shortest days may be related to Earth's "inner or outer layers, oceans, tides, or even temperature," although experts aren't sure.
- Leonid Zotov, Christian Bizouard, and Nikolay Sidorenkov will argue at the upcoming annual meeting of the Asia Oceania Geosciences Society this week that the Earth's rotation speeding up may be due to the 'Chandler wobble,' the term given to the small and irregular movement of the geographical poles across the surface of the globe.
The International Earth Rotation Service in Paris, which tracks the planet's rotation, will notify governments six months in advance if and when leap seconds must be added or removed.
- Whether or not the Earth will keep spinning faster and faster as the days continue to get shorter, nobody knows.
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