Climate change has an impact on the length of an Earth day

Explained:

"As humans warm the world, glaciers and ice sheets are melting, and that meltwater is flowing from the poles toward the equator. This changes the planet’s shape — flattening it at the poles and making it bulge more in the middle — slowing its rotation.

The process is often compared to a spinning ice skater. When the skater pulls their arms in towards their body, they spin faster. But if they move their arms outwards, away from their body, their spin slows.

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Climate change-fueled sea level rise caused the length of a day to vary between 0.3 and 1 milliseconds in the 20th century. Over the past two decades, however, the scientists calculated an increase in day length of 1.33 milliseconds per century, “significantly higher than at any time in the 20th century,” according to the report."

— Climate change is messing with time more than previously thought, scientists find, Laura Paddison, CNN, July 15, 2024