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Tech

Scientists baffled as Earth spins faster than usual

By
News.com.au
Published Aug. 1, 2022
Updated Aug. 1, 2022, 4:11 p.m. ET

Scientists have been left baffled after discovering the Earth is spinning faster than normal — making days shorter than usual.

New measurements by the UK’s National Physical Laboratory show that the Earth is spinning faster than it was half a century ago.

On June 29, the Earth’s full rotation took 1.59 milliseconds less than 24 hours — the shortest day ever recorded.

Scientists have warned that, if the rotation rate continues to speed up, we may need to remove a second from our atomic clocks.

“If Earth’s fast rotation continues, it could lead to the introduction of the first-ever negative leap second,” astrophysicist Graham Jones reported via TimeandDate.com. 

Scientists have warned that, if the rotation rate of Earth continues to speed up, we may need to remove a second from our atomic clocks.
Scientists have warned that, if the rotation rate of Earth continues to speed up, we may need to remove a second from our atomic clocks. Shutterstock

“This would be required to keep civil time — which is based on the super-steady beat of atomic clocks — in step with solar time, which is based on the movement of the sun across the sky.

“A negative leap second would mean that our clocks skip one second, which could potentially create problems for IT systems.”

Researchers at Meta said a leap second would have colossal effects on technology and become a “major source of pain” for hardware infrastructures.

Researchers at Meta said a leap second would have colossal effects on technology and become a “major source of pain” for hardware infrastructures.
Researchers at Meta said a leap second would have colossal effects on technology and become a “major source of pain” for hardware infrastructures. Shutterstock

“The impact of a negative leap second has never been tested on a large scale; it could have a devastating effect on the software relying on timers or schedulers,” a blog post on the topic, authored by researchers Oleg Obleukhov and Ahmad Byagowi, claimed.

“In any case, every leap second is a major source of pain for people who manage hardware infrastructures.”

Scientists Leonid Zotov, Christian Bizouard and Nikolay Sidorenkov claim the irregular rotations are the result of something called the Chandler Wobble, an irregular movement of Earth’s geographical poles across the surface of the globe.

“The normal amplitude of the Chandler wobble is about 3m to 4m at Earth’s surface,” Zotov told TimeandDate, “but from 2017 to 2020 it disappeared.”

Some experts believe the melting and refreezing of ice caps on the world’s tallest mountains could be contributing to the irregular speed.

“Earth has recorded its shortest day since scientists began using atomic clocks to measure its rotational speed,” TimeandDate reported.

“On June 29, 2022, Earth completed one spin in 1.59 milliseconds less than 24 hours. This is the latest in a series of speed records for Earth since 2020.”

Zotov told TimeandDate that there’s a “70 percent chance” the planet has already reached the minimum length of a day, meaning we will likely never have to use a negative leap second.

However, Zoltov admitted there is no way to know for certain with current technology.