How does the speed of rotation of the Earth change?
The earth is not a perfect sphere and not an absolutely solid body. On her
According to observations, the rotation speed not only increases, but may also decrease. Moreover, during these processes, the position of the planet and the earth's axis change, around which our planet revolves.
How do changes in rotational speed and axis position affect us?
The planet's rotation speed and coordinates, for example,the North Pole may change, because of this, errors gradually accumulate in the reference systems of geographical coordinates and in the calculation of time. They can lead to accidents involving satellites, aircraft or ships. Therefore, GLONASS and GPS regularly update their data to minimize errors.
Since 1902, scientists have tracked changes in time every year. Now time, measured by the rotation of the Earth, has begun to overtake atomic time.
The current 365 revolutions of the Earth threaten to become a record short in 60 years of observations.
If the planet continues to accelerate, then in 2026 the difference will approach the critical - 0.9 seconds. The keepers of time will be forced to subtract time by a second for the first time in history.
How to measure time accurately?
The standard of the second since 1967 is atomica clock that, unlike the rotation of the Earth, runs at a constant speed. Sometimes the difference between the Earth's rotation time and the atomic time becomes critical, then scientists (usually this happens once every several years) at the end of December or June introduce an additional second. This was last done at the end of 2016. Waste of extra time has never been necessary.
Atomic clocks are considered the most reliable waymeasure time and find the error in other instruments. Without atomic clocks, it would be impossible to develop satellite navigation systems like GLONASS or GPS: they determine distance precisely by the time it takes a signal to travel from a point on Earth to a satellite and back.
Modern navigation satellites are equipped with several rubidium, more compact atomic clocks.
The earth spins faster and changes time. Why is this happening?
There is still no exact answer to the question whyThe earth began to rotate faster. There are many factors that change the speed of our planet. For example, there is an 18.6-year cycle in which our planet either contracts along the equator or expands. This happens due to the gravity of the Moon.
Seasonal changes also affect.The earth can change its speed of rotation under the influence of air masses. The atmosphere changes the rotational moment of the planet. When the westerly winds intensify, it slows down a little. Therefore, it turns out that, on average, the longest days fall on May 1 and December 7, and the shortest - on August 4.
How the Earth's Temperature Affects Rotation Speed
Scientists understand how the Earth’s shells affect its rotation, but synchronization with global temperature fluctuations remains unclear.
Early observations showed that duringwarming Earth is accelerating. For example, it happened in the 1930s, and a similar process is going on today. Despite this, the relationship between speed and temperature is not yet so obvious to researchers.
Global climatic processes and Earth movement
In a new work that was published in the springIn 2021, scientists from China found that around the 1990s, the Earth's pole shifted several decimeters to the east. The researchers blamed the super-rapid melting of glaciers, after which water began to redistribute over the planet's surface.
Another recent article describes Chandler'soscillation of the Earth's axis of rotation - when the pole shifts by several meters in opposite directions every 14 months and, at the same time, the planet itself oscillates left-right. This oscillation has a cycle of 40 years. Now it is in the decay stage.
How fluctuations, global temperatures and the speed of the Earth's rotation relate to each other remains to be seen by scientists. It is too early to draw conclusions, the authors of the work emphasize.
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