The days are getting longer. It’s all because of… glaciers

While the vast majority of people love long summer days, that is not the case here. Scientists are finding that the climate crisis is making each day longer, and the massive melting of polar ice is changing the shape of the planet, reports The Guardian.

Even though the change in time measured in milliseconds may not seem like a big deal, it can have dramatic consequences. Time is measured using extremely precise atomic clocks. Financial transactions, GPS, and even the internet all depend on them.

“All data centres supporting the internet, communications and financial transactions rely on precise timing. We also need precise time for navigation, especially for satellites and spacecraft,” Professor Benedikt Soja of ETH Zurich in Switzerland told The Guardian

The Earth is becoming flatter

The time – which depends on the Earth’s spin – is influenced by numerous factors, including the moon’s tides, climate and, worst of all, the rapid retreat of ice sheets caused by global warming.

As The Guardian writes, the melting of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets due to human-induced global warming is redistributing stored water to the oceans. This is leading to more water in the seas closer to the equator, making the Earth flatter and the days longer.

Scientists are sounding the alarm

According to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, in the previous century the rate of slowing ranged from 0.3 to 1.0 milliseconds per century. Since 2000, the rate has increased to 1.3 milliseconds per century.

Scientists have no illusions: The current rate is probably higher than at any time in the past few thousand years. Even if greenhouse gas emissions are severely curbed, the rate will remain at about 1.0 milliseconds per century for the next few decades. If it is not curbed, it could rise to 2.6 milliseconds per century by the end of the century.

– We see our impact, as humans, on the entire Earth system, not just locally, like the temperature increase, but fundamentally changing the way it moves through space and rotates – said Professor Benedikt Soja. – Due to carbon dioxide emissions, we did this in just 100-200 years. Whereas the processes before that lasted for billions of years, and that is striking – he added.