Global Warming Makes Days Longer And Knocks Off Space Navigation: A Recent Study Reveals

Recently, scientists found out that as polar ice caps have melted, water has moved from the poles to the equator. This has made the Earth more oblate (wider around the middle) since 1900 and has made days slightly longer.

According to the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, adding a few milliseconds to a 24-hour day may not seem like much, but it significantly affects accurate timekeeping and space navigation. What is even more concerning is that the rate of change is faster now than at any point in the 20th century.

This study follows research published in Nature in March that examined the effect of climate change on global timekeeping.

The Days Are Becoming Longer And Longer

If greenhouse gas emissions keep rising at the current rate, the length of the day will keep increasing, possibly adding an extra 2.62 milliseconds per century by the end of the 21st century, according to the study.

This means climate change could become a more significant factor in changes to day length than lunar tides.

“These findings signify the unprecedented effect of climate change on planet Earth,” the study stated.

Slower Earth Rotation Makes Time Go Faster

It was also found that faster melting of polar ice could slow the Earth’s rotation more quickly, affecting how we measure time.

Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the international standard for measuring time, based on around 450 atomic clocks in labs worldwide. Occasionally, a leap second is added to keep atomic time in sync with the Earth’s rotation.

Professor Duncan Agnew from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the author of the Nature study, explained how the increased water at the equator influences the Earth’s spin.

He likened it to a “skater spinning on ice.”

“If they hold their arms out, their spinning is slower, but if they bring them into their body, then they speed up,” he said.

Time Changes Knock Off Space Navigation

As space missions rely on precise timing for calculations and communication, even small changes in day length can impact mission schedules and operations. The same story applies to satellites: They use Earth’s rotation to maintain their orbits. Changes can alter their expected paths and affect communication and data transmission. 

Finally, GPS also relies on accurate timing, so any shifts in the Earth’s rotation can crash space navigation and lead to inaccuracies in positioning data here on Earth.