MELTING POLAR ICE SLOWING EARTH'S ROTATION
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28 March 2024
Climate change is having an unusual effect on Earth's rotation that may affect our clocks, a new study has found
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However, the change may be minuscule - only one second - as per the study published in 'Nature'
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Due to rising temperature, polar ice is melting causing the Earth to spin less quickly
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The melting ice is changing the concentration of the Earth's mass, affecting its angular velocity
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Since the polar ice is melting, the mass around the Earth's equator is increasing
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This may cause timekeepers to consider subtracting a second from our clocks - called "negative leap second"
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The study said this may happen as soon as 2029
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Lead author Duncan Agnew said certain things are happening that are "unprecedented"
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It is to be noted that Earth's rotation has slowed over millions of years
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About 70 million years ago, days were shorter, lasting 23.5 hours, according to another study
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