Chennai: Scientists have revealed that our planet Earth may be spinning faster than it has in over 50 years.
A new research has indicated that time is passing quicker now than at any point in the last half-century and since 2020, a full day has been taking less than the normal 24 hours.
According to a 2015 study published in Science Advances, global warming may be the reason behind the Earthâs faster rotation. As glaciers melt, mass redistribution is causing the planet to shift and spin faster on its axis.
As a result, the days are on average about 0.5 seconds shorter than 24 hours.
According to a Daily Mail report , 19 July, 2020, was the shortest day since scientists began keeping records in the 1960sâ1.4602 milliseconds shorter than the full 24 hours.
With this finding, the worldâs timekeepers are now debating whether to delete a second from time to account for the change, and bring the precise passing of time back into line with the rotation of the Earth.
On whether a leap second will be added, in July 2020, the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS) announced that no âleap secondâ would be added to the worldâs official timekeeping in December 2020.
“Itâs quite possible that a negative leap second will be needed if the Earthâs rotation rate increases further, but itâs too early to say if this is likely to happen,” said physicist Peter Whibberley of the National Physics Laboratory in the UK.