Earth's rotation being affected by melting of ice, climate change, causing longer days: Study

This has been revealed in a news study by the researchers at ETH Zurich, who have used AI-models to understand the polar motion better, which is the movement of the Earth’s rotating axis relative to the crust.

Melting of ice sheets which are caused due to climate change, are messing up with earth’s movements. There is a new study that reveals that the Earth’s spin axis is “shifting” owing to climate change and the planet’s internal dynamics, a recent study by researchers at ETH Zurich stated

Researchers at ETH Zurich have used AI-models to understand the polar motion better, which is the movement of the Earth’s rotating axis relative to the crust.

According to the study, if greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, they will eventually outweigh the influence of the moon’s tidal force.

The moon has been regulating the lengthening of our days for billions of years, however according to the study, if greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, they will eventually outweigh the influence of the moon’s tidal force.

Benedikt Soja, Professor of Space Geodesy at the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering at ETH Zurich said, “We humans have a greater impact on our planet than we realize. And this naturally places great responsibility on us for the future of our planet.”

A surprising connection between Earth’s wobble, melting of ice caps, and the duration of our days has been examined in two recent studies.

As a result of ice melting on Earth’s surface, the rotation of the planet is slowed down and increases by a day. ETH Zurich's research also showed that the slowing rotation lengthens our days slightly by a few milliseconds compared to the usual 86,400 seconds.

The Earth's rotation gets slowed as the as the melting of ice at the poles redistributes mass towards the equator. Here Earth’s equilibrium is disrupted by the water which travels from the poles to the equator.

Benedikt Soja said, “Climate change is causing the Earth’s axis of rotation to move, and it appears that the feedback from the conservation of angular momentum is also changing the dynamics of the Earth’s core.”

Soja added, “Even if the Earth’s rotation is changing only slowly, this effect has to be taken into account when navigating in space – for example, when sending a space probe to land on another planet.” Soja further added that even a slight deviation of one centimetre on earth can grow to a deviation of hundreds of metres over the huge distances involved.

The researchers also mentioned that not only the melting of ice has shown alteration in rotation of Earth, the phenomenon has also altered the axis of rotation, which means that the points where the axis of rotation actually meets the Earth’s surface move. The team of researchers created comprehensive models to explain how movements within the Earth’s core, mantle, and climate at the surface all contribute to polar motion.