Scientists from the Federal University of Technology Zurich (ETH) have found that under the influence of global warming, water from glaciers is moving towards the equator, causing days to lengthen by milliseconds.
“This means that the distribution of mass is changing, which in turn affects the Earth’s rotation,” says Prof. Benedict Soja, author of the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Global warming is changing the Earth’s rotation.
“It’s like an ice skater spinning – first she puts her arms close to her body and then straightens them,” explains the specialist. The rapid rotation then slows down as the mass moves away from the axis of rotation. This is the result of the physical principle known as conservation of angular momentum. The same law applies to the Earth’s rotation, which determines the length of the day. Although the changes are not large, measured in milliseconds, over time they should outweigh the slowdown caused by the ocean tides that have been operating for billions of years.
Moreover, as the researchers have shown, these changes in the distribution of mass also cause a shift in the Earth’s axis of rotation. The points of this axis have already been shown to shift by about 10 meters per hundred years. Until now, it was thought to be the result of processes within the Earth. However, scientists have now shown for the first time how much the axis shift is determined by the movement of water from glaciers.
“For the first time, we provide a complete explanation of the causes of long-term changes in the Earth’s axis of rotation. In other words, we now know why and how this axis moves relative to the Earth’s crust,” explains Prof. Soya.
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This is not the end of the scientists’ findings. The analysis also showed that water migration and processes occurring in the Earth’s center influence each other.
“Climate change causes a shift in the Earth’s axis of rotation. It turns out that due to the conservation of angular momentum, there are changes in the dynamics of the Earth’s core,” explains Prof. Soya.
However, scientists say the effects are minimal and there is no reason to worry about human performance. However, they could be important, for example, for space travel.
The researchers explain that, for example, when sending a probe to another planet, any slight deviation of the path over such a long distance leads to missing the target at a great distance.
The researchers were aided in their findings by the latest advances in computer science. They used artificial intelligence that was taught to use the laws of physics and phenomena that occur on Earth.
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