The Earth Is Spinning Faster Than Normal And We Just Had The Shortest Day In Recent History

Scientists claim that on June 29, 2022, the Earth rotated faster than normal, making it the shortest day on record since the 1960s. The average day lasts 24 hours (or exactly 86,400 seconds). According to CBS, who spoke to Leonid Zotov, a scientist at the Sternberg Astronomical Institute at Lomonosov Moscow State University, June 29 was 1.59 milliseconds shorter.

		Read more: After all, don’t women live longer than men?  The study challenges misconceptions about life expectancy 		

Zotov and a team of scientists recently published a study outlining possible hypotheses for the new accelerated rotation of the Earth. They reported that the Earth is spinning faster than in 2016. According to the Guardian, 2020 had 28 of the shortest days on record in the last 50 years. (However, not every day is less than 24 hours.) The increased rotation speed came as a surprise to scientists who, Zotov and his peers wrote in the study, had previously believed that Earth had slowed down in recent centuries. Scientists have not been able to say for sure what is causing the increased speed, although Zotov and other scientists will present their research and theories at the Asia Oceania Geosciences Society conference this month.

Zotov told CBS that he thinks Earth’s tides may play a factor in why the planet spins faster. According to Forbes (who also spoke with Zotov), ​​a breakdown in the “Chandler Wobble” may be what’s causing the change in acceleration. The Chandler Wobble involves the movement of the geographic poles across the surface of the globe, as the Earth is a living, moving planet. (The normal width of the Chandler oscillation is about three to four meters at Earth’s surface, but from 2017 to 2020 it disappeared, according to numerous scientific reports.) “Polar motion is caused by geophysical processes in the Earth’s systems, namely currents in the ocean, winds in the atmosphere, internal processes within the Earth,” Zotov told Forbes. He told the agency that he believes “something is happening inside the Earth down to the core and the mantle.” Whatever happens in the Earth’s core and mantle is what causes the Chandler Wobble to decay and causes the Earth to slow down, Zotov claims.

		Read more: Moon ‘wobble’ effects on Canadian coastal cities ‘just around the corner’: experts 		

There are also other factors potentially at play, including natural weather. NASA has previously claimed that changes in atmospheric pressure and strong winds (like that of El Niño years) can slow the speed of Earth’s rotation. Alternatively, events such as earthquakes can accelerate rotation.

This is not the first time that the length of Earth’s days has changed. Scientists believe that more than 1.4 billion years ago, days on Earth were less than 19 hours long. However, despite the fact that there is no concrete answer to the new slowdown of the speed of the Earth, scientists and various professionals around the world are now questioning the best method to deal with the time shift. Zotov said that if the Earth continues to spin faster, atomic time – the universal way of measuring time on Earth – may have to change. One such suggestion is the introduction of a negative leap second. First proposed in the 1970s, a negative leap second would see one second removed from clocks to keep Coordinated Universal Time (CUT). Leap seconds usually occur on either the last day of June or the last day of December. While a negative leap second has never been used, a total of 27 positive leap seconds (a second is added to clocks) have occurred approximately every year and a half (on average), according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). NIST).

		Read more: 2016 takes a ‘leap second’ on New Year’s Eve 		

Some engineers strongly oppose the use of negative leap seconds, arguing that it could cause widespread technological problems. Meta, the tech giant that owns Facebook, shared a blog post by engineers Oleg Obleukhov and Ahmad Byagowi in July, insisting that leap seconds should be a thing of the past. They claim in the blog post that leap seconds primarily benefit “scientists and astronomers, as it allows them to observe celestial bodies using UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) for most purposes.” Obleukhov and Byagowi wrote that a negative leap second could cause computer programs to crash and could destroy data internationally, as shown in simulations the company claims to have run. “Introducing new leap seconds is a dangerous practice that does more harm than good and we believe it is time to introduce new technologies to replace it,” they continued. Engineers working with Meta believe that the melting and refreezing of ice on the world’s highest mountains may be a factor in Earth’s increased rotation speed.

		Read more: Accelerating Arctic ice melt could cost global economy trillions: report 		

“This phenomenon can be simply visualized by thinking of a rotating figure skater, who manages angular velocity by controlling his arms and hands,” they wrote. “As they extend their arms, the angular velocity decreases, maintaining the skater’s momentum. As soon as the skater puts his hands back, the angular velocity increases.” Overall, scientists, engineers and other professionals related to time and Earth science now argue whether time should continue to be determined by the motion of the planet. What is to be done with the increased speed of the Earth, then? Only time can tell.

			© 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.			

title: “The Earth Is Spinning Faster Than Normal And We Just Had The Shortest Day In Recent History " ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-08” author: “Jonathan Obrien”

Scientists claim that on June 29, 2022, the Earth rotated faster than normal, making it the shortest day on record since the 1960s. The average day lasts 24 hours (or exactly 86,400 seconds). According to CBS, who spoke to Leonid Zotov, a scientist at the Sternberg Astronomical Institute at Lomonosov Moscow State University, June 29 was 1.59 milliseconds shorter.

		Read more: After all, don’t women live longer than men?  The study challenges misconceptions about life expectancy 		

Zotov and a team of scientists recently published a study outlining possible hypotheses for the new accelerated rotation of the Earth. They reported that the Earth is spinning faster than in 2016. According to the Guardian, 2020 had 28 of the shortest days on record in the last 50 years. (However, not every day is less than 24 hours.) The increased rotation speed came as a surprise to scientists who, Zotov and his peers wrote in the study, had previously believed that Earth had slowed down in recent centuries. Scientists have not been able to say for sure what is causing the increased speed, although Zotov and other scientists will present their research and theories at the Asia Oceania Geosciences Society conference this month.

Zotov told CBS that he thinks Earth’s tides may play a factor in why the planet spins faster. According to Forbes (who also spoke with Zotov), ​​a breakdown in the “Chandler Wobble” may be what’s causing the change in acceleration. The Chandler Wobble involves the movement of the geographic poles across the surface of the globe, as the Earth is a living, moving planet. (The normal width of the Chandler oscillation is about three to four meters at Earth’s surface, but from 2017 to 2020 it disappeared, according to numerous scientific reports.) “Polar motion is caused by geophysical processes in the Earth’s systems, namely currents in the ocean, winds in the atmosphere, internal processes within the Earth,” Zotov told Forbes. He told the agency that he believes “something is happening inside the Earth down to the core and the mantle.” Whatever happens in the Earth’s core and mantle is what causes the Chandler Wobble to decay and causes the Earth to slow down, Zotov claims.

		Read more: Moon ‘wobble’ effects on Canadian coastal cities ‘just around the corner’: experts 		

There are also other factors potentially at play, including natural weather. NASA has previously claimed that changes in atmospheric pressure and strong winds (like that of El Niño years) can slow the speed of Earth’s rotation. Alternatively, events such as earthquakes can accelerate rotation.

This is not the first time that the length of Earth’s days has changed. Scientists believe that more than 1.4 billion years ago, days on Earth were less than 19 hours long. However, despite the fact that there is no concrete answer to the new slowdown of the speed of the Earth, scientists and various professionals around the world are now questioning the best method to deal with the time shift. Zotov said that if the Earth continues to spin faster, atomic time – the universal way of measuring time on Earth – may have to change. One such suggestion is the introduction of a negative leap second. First proposed in the 1970s, a negative leap second would see one second removed from clocks to keep Coordinated Universal Time (CUT). Leap seconds usually occur on either the last day of June or the last day of December. While a negative leap second has never been used, a total of 27 positive leap seconds (a second is added to clocks) have occurred approximately every year and a half (on average), according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). NIST).

		Read more: 2016 takes a ‘leap second’ on New Year’s Eve 		

Some engineers strongly oppose the use of negative leap seconds, arguing that it could cause widespread technological problems. Meta, the tech giant that owns Facebook, shared a blog post by engineers Oleg Obleukhov and Ahmad Byagowi in July, insisting that leap seconds should be a thing of the past. They claim in the blog post that leap seconds primarily benefit “scientists and astronomers, as it allows them to observe celestial bodies using UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) for most purposes.” Obleukhov and Byagowi wrote that a negative leap second could cause computer programs to crash and could destroy data internationally, as shown in simulations the company claims to have run. “Introducing new leap seconds is a dangerous practice that does more harm than good and we believe it is time to introduce new technologies to replace it,” they continued. Engineers working with Meta believe that the melting and refreezing of ice on the world’s highest mountains may be a factor in the Earth’s increased rotation speed.

		Read more: Accelerating Arctic ice melt could cost global economy trillions: report 		

“This phenomenon can be simply visualized by thinking of a rotating figure skater, who manages angular velocity by controlling his arms and hands,” they wrote. “As they extend their arms, the angular velocity decreases, maintaining the skater’s momentum. As soon as the skater puts his hands back, the angular velocity increases.” Overall, scientists, engineers and other professionals related to time and Earth science now argue whether time should continue to be determined by the motion of the planet. What is to be done with the increased speed of the Earth, then? Only time can tell.

			© 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.