Melting polar ice is changing Earth's rotation and slowing down time. Here's how this will affect the leap second
Climate change is now altering how we keep time.
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Climate change is now altering how we keep time.
The rate of Earth’s rotation is slowing down due to climate change, delaying the need for a “leap second” until 2029. It has consequences for global timekeeping.
Earth’s changing spin is threatening to toy with our sense of time, clocks and computerized society in an unprecedented way — but only for a second.
For the first time in history, world timekeepers may have to consider subtracting a second from our clocks in a few years because the planet is rotating a tad faster.
Humanity's activities and climate change are impacting the polar ice sheets, causing excessive melting, and this is slowing Earth’s rotation, challenging official timekeeping standards.