Latest news with #IERS
India.com
6 days ago
- Science
- India.com
Scientists say speed of Earth's rotation has increased! How will it affect our lives? Two days in July and August are important due to...
New Delhi: The speed of Earth's rotation on its axis is increasing. The result of the increasing speed of Earth's rotation has come in the form of a decrease in the daytime. Scientists say that it has now been confirmed that in the coming time we will see days of less than 24 hours. Scientists have said that on 22 July and 5 August, the days will be shorter by 1.3 to 1.5 milliseconds. However, the reduced duration of the day can be measured only with some special instruments. What is the usual pattern? The general understanding about the rotation of the Earth is that the Earth revolves around the Sun in 24 hours. This is the duration of one day. This time means one day is of 24 hours. Research says that this period is not always constant. The position of the Moon and the Sun can change it with time. Even earthquakes and other geological events can change the rotation speed of the Earth. This has an effect on the time of day. What do scientists say about duration of day time? Scientists say that the change in the time of day is not such a phenomenon that has never been seen. Days have not always been 24 hours. Researchers have found that 1 to 2 billion years ago, a day on Earth was only 19 hours long. At that time the Moon was very close to the Earth and its gravitational force was high. This distance slowed the Earth's rotation, causing the days to become longer and reach a 24-hour cycle. After millions of years of having a 24-hour day, things have changed in recent years. Five years ago in 2020, scientists discovered that the Earth is rotating faster than at any other time in its history. In July 2024, scientists recorded a day 1.66 milliseconds less than 24 hours for the first time. This year too, scientists are saying that some days will be of less than 24-hour duration. What will be the effect on daily life? A decrease of 1 to 2 milliseconds from the time of a day does not matter and it will not make any difference to normal life. Even our normal clocks are not able to show this difference. Experts say that this small change will also affect satellite systems, GPS and the way time is tracked. The change in the duration of day forces international agencies like International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS) to adjust atomic clocks. Leap seconds have to be added or subtracted to or from them so that the official time can be synchronized with the actual rotation of the planet. Normal life remains unaffected by this.
Yomiuri Shimbun
12-07-2025
- Science
- Yomiuri Shimbun
For A Few Days This Summer, Your Days Will Be Just A Smidge Shorter
You're not running late – Earth is just moving faster, at least for a few days this summer. On July 22, Earth will spin about 1.38 milliseconds faster than its typical 86,400 seconds in a day. If that's not quick enough, Earth will rotate 1.51 milliseconds faster on August 5. Those numbers are calculated by the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service, according to The IERS tracks Earth's orientation in space and schedules leap seconds, which are added to help keep our clocks synchronized with astronomical time (when Earth moves a bit more sluggish). People already experienced a shorter day on July 9 – but maybe didn't know it because it's only 1.3 milliseconds faster. The fastest day since the introduction of the atomic clock occurred on July 5, 2024, when the day was truncated by 1.66 milliseconds. 'Since we are talking [about] 1 millisecond, it's not something you'd notice,' Duncan Agnew, geophysicist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, said in an email. But while the changes may not register to people, scientists track them to keep our technology accurate, including GPS systems that tells us where exactly we are. Shorter days happen from time to time. They tend to occur during the summer, when Earth spins faster than other times of the year, Agnew said. But there's also added boosts on these days from the moon and maybe even mysterious processes in Earth's core. During the summer, the northern hemisphere is tilted toward the sun, which minimizes the difference in temperature between the equator and Earth's poles. This smaller temperature variation slows down the jet stream – a narrow band of strong winds around 30,000 feet above us – and moves it northward. (The slower jet stream also explains why storms are more sluggish during the summer in the northern hemisphere.) To recall a lesson from physics class, the angular momentum in this Earth-atmosphere system is conserved. When the atmosphere begins moving slower, Earth's rotation speeds up. But some days are even shorter than the rest, thanks to the moon. Agnew explained that the moon isn't perfectly aligned with Earth's equator, orbiting on an incline. It travels over the equator twice a month and also travels overhead at higher and lower latitudes twice a month. The moon reaches its most extreme north and southern positions about every 18.6 years – called a lunar standstill – which is occurring in 2024 and 2025. On July 22 and Aug. 5, the moon will be close to its peak angle, 28 degrees, to Earth. The steeper angle causes Earth to rotate faster. 'So twice a month, when the Moon is North or South, it spins faster,' said Agnew. That's important information to know for GPS operators, for instance. GPS determines accurate positioning by sending signals from satellites to receivers on Earth. To do so, it relies on precise measurements of Earth's rotational speed. If a GPS system doesn't account for a faster rotation at a particular time, then it may arrive to a point on the ground earlier than expected and create positioning errors. Earth's spin has varied throughout its history. When Earth was first formed and the moon was closer, days were much shorter. Days were 19 hours long for about 1 billion years. As the moon has drifted away from us, our more recent days have been some of the longest in history. 'Out of the trillion days or so of the Earth's existence, almost all have been shorter: very very roughly, maybe 100,000 have been longer,' said Agnew. 'It's just that the long days have all been recent.' Some processes like the melting of the ice sheets may have contributed to slowing down Earth's rotation, too. The meltwater is moving toward the equator, making our planet bulkier and rotate slower. Even as Earth is moving much slower than historical timelines, Earth's rotation has mysteriously been speeding up in recent decades. Agnew said the boost could be due to processes deep within our core, which is hard to confirm or predict because of limited observations. Given all the factors, it's also hard to know if Earth will continue to speed up or tap the brakes in upcoming years. At the end of the day, all we can do is make the most out of 86,400 seconds, give or take.
Washington Post
11-07-2025
- Science
- Washington Post
For a few days this summer, your days will be just a smidge shorter
You're not running late — Earth is just moving faster, at least for a few days this summer. On July 22, Earth will spin about 1.38 milliseconds faster than its typical 86,400 seconds in a day. If that's not quick enough, Earth will rotate 1.51 milliseconds faster on August 5. Those numbers are calculated by the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service, according to The IERS tracks Earth's orientation in space and schedules leap seconds, which are added to help keep our clocks synchronized with astronomical time (when Earth moves a bit more sluggish).
Yahoo
10-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Why July 9 May Be the Shortest Day in Recorded History
Originally appeared on E! Online The summer months may bring longer daylight hours, but the days themselves are actually getting shorter. In fact, July 9 could end up being the shortest day ever recorded by the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS), which tracks the length of each day down to the millisecond. It's expected to clock in at roughly 1.3 milliseconds shorter than the typical 86,400 seconds in a 24-hour span, according to the BBC. The phenomenon may even occur more than once, as July 22 and Aug. 5 are also predicted to be slightly shorter than normal. On these dates, the moon will be furthest from the equator, which experts have tied to the momentum of the Earth's rotation, per the outlet. Indeed, experts have observed a steady acceleration in the Earth's rotation since 2020. Currently, the shortest day ever was logged on July 5, 2024, which was 1.66 milliseconds shorter than usual, according to Time and Date. For some of the most out-of-this-world celebrity quotes, keep reading. More from E! Online Kanye "Ye" West's Wife Bianca Censori Looks So Different With Bold New Hairstyle Kate Middleton's Personal Assistant of 15 Years Exits Palace Camp Mystic Survivor, 13, Details "Hysterical" Scene During Texas Flood But the moon's placement alone doesn't account for the years-long trend of Earth's rotation speeding up. 'The cause of this acceleration is not explained,' Moscow State University researcher Leonid Zotov told Time and Date in an interview published June 16. 'Most scientists believe it is something inside the Earth. Ocean and atmospheric models don't explain this huge acceleration.' While most people are unlikely to notice the effects of the occurrences, the IERS has periodically added a leap second to the year—most recently in 2016—to ensure high-precision clocks are unaffected. But the recent string of condensed days could have a subtle effect in the future, resulting in a leap second being taken off the clock for the first time in 2029. Fortunately, though, Zotov predicted that the Earth's momentum would eventually subside. 'I think we have reached the minimum,' he said. 'Sooner or later, Earth will decelerate.' For some of the most out-of-this-world celebrity quotes, keep reading. Gayle KingKaty PerryWilliam ShatnerLance BassMichael StrahanKim KardashianElon MuskLeonardo DiCaprioJustin BieberTom HanksAshton KutcherPrince WilliamCameron DiazMichael FassbenderCharlize TheronParis Hilton For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News App
Yahoo
10-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Earth is spinning faster today and scientists question cause of our shortest days ever
July 9 will be one of the shortest days ever, as Earth is spinning faster and scientists are still working to understand why. According to the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS) the organization that continuously measures Earth's orientation in space and the length of days, our planet has been speeding up since 2020. This year, IERS data predicts that July 9 and 22, and Aug. 5 are bound to be the shortest days of the year and among the shortest in history. It will not be something that people will notice, but if the trend continues, it could lead to significantly shorter days in over a million year. However, the consensus among scientists is that the Earth will slow down again eventually. Acceleration, though, could continue for a few decades. July 9, 2025 will be 1.3 milliseconds shorter than average, IERS predicts. Scientists are studying potential causes, something happening within our planet's core, melting polar ice m, or even a shift in the position of the Moon relative to the Earth, they have said. Juan Carlos Castillo is a New Jersey-based trending reporter for the USA Today Network. Find him on Twitter at _JCCastillo. This article originally appeared on Earth is spinning faster in July. How much faster?
