The days are getting longer for these reasons: expert interpretations

It is imperceptible to the human eye but the days are slowly getting longer and for experts this phenomenon is long lasting.

Although June 29, 2022 was the shortest day ever, according to astronomical clocks, the days are slowly getting longer.

But suddenly the days started to slow down, why this happens is still a mystery.

The days are getting longer for these reasons: expert interpretations

Not many people know that days don’t really last 24 hours (ie 86,400 seconds) because big changes like an earthquake can change the length of the day.

This was confirmed by research conducted by two scientists, Matt King and Christopher Watson. Director of ARC’s Australian Center of Excellence in Antarctic Science and a lecturer in the School of Geography, Planning and Space Science at the University of Tasmania.

In the article published on Conversation The authors explained that over the course of millions of years due to tides, the Earth’s rotation began to slow down. Thus, days may be lengthened by about 2.3 milliseconds each day of each century. This means that millions of years ago, a day lasted 19 hours, not 24 hours.

Moreover, in the past 200 years, the Earth has also accelerated due to the recent glaciation, because melting ice has reduced surface pressure and the Earth’s mantle has begun to move toward the poles.

The two experts explain: “Just as a dancer turns faster when she brings her arms closer to her body – the axis around which she rotates – the speed of our planet’s rotation increases as the mass of the mantle approaches the Earth’s axis. This process shrinks every day by about 0.6 milliseconds every century.”

Both deceleration and acceleration are natural phenomena. However, there are other events that can vary in the length of days, such as weather changes and changing seasons. or earthquakes that can cause changes in the Earth’s rotation.

Read also”If a solar storm occurs (as they say), what will be its consequences for the world“

Hypothesis

Hypotheses abound although the causes are still being studied. According to study authors Matt King and Christopher Watson, this phenomenon should be fairly recent. It goes back at least 50 years, and it can be seen thanks to technology.

Climate change appears to be modifying the length of days. Climatic changes are mainly due to the thaw or the recent eruption of the Toga subterranean volcano.

Another hypothesis is called the phenomenon Chandler wobblethat is, a slight deviation of the Earth’s axis, which led to a change in the speed of the Earth’s rotation.