[Regnum] Scientists have linked the slowing of Earth's rotation to climate change. This was reported by the British popular science magazine BBC Science Focus.
Every day, the planet takes a little longer to rotate on its axis. This speed is constantly adjusted by the gravitational pull of the Moon, processes occurring deep within the planet, and changes in the atmosphere. These changes are measured in fractions of a millisecond.
However, something unprecedented has been happening with the Earth's rotation recently—nothing like this has been observed in the previous 3.6 million years, according to researchers from the University of Vienna and the Zurich Institute of Technology.
They studied the fossilized remains of benthic foraminifera—the simplest inhabitants of the seafloor (benthos). These single-celled organisms build a protective calcareous or organic shell around themselves. They are found both in modern seas and oceans, and in fossil form. Using the chemical composition of foraminifera shells, the scientists determined gradual changes in ocean water levels, and from these, the rate of Earth's rotation.
Scientists have concluded that the increase in the length of a day caused by climate change amounted to 1.33 milliseconds per century.
"Such a change in the length of the day requires a huge redistribution of mass—on the order of 1,000 gigatons, moving from the poles to the oceans," the publication quotes Professor Benedict Soji as saying.
For his part, scientist Mostafa Kiani Shahvandi from the University of Vienna expressed the opinion that human activity influences the speed of rotation, since it changes the climate.
"While a millisecond may seem tiny, this effect is crucial for the ultra-precise timing required for GPS navigation on Earth and spacecraft navigation in the solar system," Soja explained.
Shahvandi and Soja are not the first to attribute the slowing of the Earth's rotation to melting glaciers. Their American colleagues had previously made similar conclusions, arguing that climate change, accompanied by the equatorial movement of water masses and the increasing flattening of the Earth, had led to the increase in daylight hours.
I blame advances in Jewish agricultural science; advanced farming techniques, disease management, new crop varieties, increased production, and the like.
| You win Internet Snark o’the Day, sir. I stand in awe. |