Researchers have predicted that the day on Tuesday will be a tiny fraction of a second shorter than usual as the Earth's rotation speeds up.
The International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service expects Tuesday to be just 1.34 milliseconds shorter than the standard 24 hours.
“We've known about the Earth's rotational wobbles for about a hundred years,” said Dennis McCarthy, former director of the U.S. Naval Observatory's timing division. “This is just one of those little changes that happens.”
Our planet's rotation speed is not constant. A 2023 study found that early in Earth's history, a day lasted about 19 hours.
July 5, 2024, was the shortest day in history, 1.65 milliseconds shorter than the usual 86,400 seconds, according to MIT geophysicist Thomas Herring.
Scientists speculate that August 5 could be the next day we see the rotation speed up – 1.25 milliseconds shorter than usual.
“The reason for this acceleration remains unclear,” said Leonid Zotov, a leading specialist in Earth rotation at Moscow State University. “Most scientists believe that it is related to processes inside the Earth. Ocean and atmospheric models do not explain this significant acceleration.”
Sourse: www.upi.com
