Global warming is affecting the Earth’s rotation: the effect is measurable and will require adjustments to time counting

Global warming and the consequent melting of the polar ice caps are affecting the Earth’s rotation and interfering with the accuracy of timekeeping. The discovery is evident in an article published on Wednesday, in “Nature” magazine. Understanding this effect implies knowing that, in a highly technological society, milliseconds can cause major disruptions in the functioning of GPS-dependent technology. It was precisely for this reason that, more than 50 years ago, authorities around the world decided to apply the concept of a “leap second”, taking into account slight changes in the Earth’s rotation.

The authors of the study reveal that the calculation of time can become complicated and that, within just a few years, it may be necessary to insert a “negative leap second” (subtract a second) into the calendar to synchronize the planet’s rotation with the coordinated universal time, exposes the newspaper “The Washington Post”.

“Global warming has reached the point where its effects are manifesting themselves in the way the Earth rotates”, writes, in clarifications sent to Expresso, Duncan Agnew, the geophysicist at the University of California, San Diego, who led the study. “This change in rotation has never been seen before, and this again underlines that we live in a time when unprecedented changes are happening.”