Earth Is Spinning Faster, Scientists Say
Scientists say Earth is spinning faster, making some days slightly shorter than 24 hours. “Wednesday might be the shortest day of your life,” researchers noted, with July 9, 22, and August 5 expected to be up to 1.51 milliseconds shorter.
Atomic clocks, which measure exact vibrations of atoms, revealed this change. Causes may include glacier melt, core motion, weather patterns like El Niño, and a weakening magnetic field.
“There is more land in the northern hemisphere… this means that mass is moved… further away from the Earth’s spin axis,” explained geophysicist Richard Holme.
The fastest day ever was July 5, 2024—1.66 milliseconds short. Even tiny changes impact satellites, GPS, and financial systems. “Technical issues can arise from a shift of only a few milliseconds.”
If the trend continues, scientists may need to remove a second—called a “negative leap second”—from global clocks for the first time ever.
