2024-03-29 04:17:19
The speed of Earth’s rotation was constantly slowing down.
Earth’s core changes and becomes faster for the first time
A major revision of the software that only added a leap second is needed.
CNN reported on the 27th (local time) that research has shown that for the first time in history, the Earth’s rotation speed will accelerate, causing one second to disappear from the day.
Time is determined by the Earth’s rotation speed. However, the rotation speed is not constant and has gradually slowed down depending on phenomena occurring on the Earth’s surface and inside.
Due to this barely perceptible change, the time in a day would have to be increased by 1 second every two years, but if it had to be decreased in reverse, this would not be a simple task as it would have a significant impact on the computer system.
Patrizia Tabella, a member of the time department at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BWM) in France, emphasized in a paper published in the journal Nature, “Because we have no experience with cutting off 1 second, it could cause major problems.”
However, the paper pointed out that it is difficult to determine the exact time when the time should be reduced due to global warming. This is because the 1-second reduction is delayed every three years as polar ice caps melt. Researchers expect the first one-second cut to be pushed back from 2026 to 2029.
Until 1955, one second was calculated based on the Earth’s rotation period. However, with the introduction of extremely precise atomic clocks, physical time has become much more accurate.
Since the late 1960s, countries around the world have set their standard time zones based on universal time (UTC). UTC is determined by simultaneously reflecting the time determined by the atomic clock and the Earth’s rotation speed.
However, as the Earth’s rotation speed is not constant, there is a difference between the time displayed by the atomic clock and the rotation speed time, and accordingly, one leap second has been added to each day every two years.
One of the causes of the Earth’s rotation slowing down is deep-sea currents. Recently, as water from melting polar glaciers moves toward the equator, the Earth’s rotation speed is becoming slower. This is the same principle as when a figure skater lowers his or her arms while spinning, the rotation speed slows down.
Additionally, the movement inside the Earth also affects the speed of the Earth’s rotation. The Earth’s liquid core rotates opposite to the solid crust. Professor Duncan Agnew of the University of California, San Diego, co-author of the paper, explained that as the rotation of the Earth’s core slows down, the rotation of the solid crust is accelerating.
Little is known about why the motion of the Earth’s core changes. However, although the rotation speed is slowing down as glaciers melt, it is clear that the overall rotation speed is accelerating. Accordingly, for the first time in history, there will soon be a need to reduce 1 second from a day.
Professor Agnew pointed out that one second is a very long time in computer systems such as stock transactions that are concluded in thousands of seconds, and that cutting off one second would have a very significant impact.
Most computer software reflects increasing 1 second, but very few software reflects decreasing it. Accordingly, most programs must be modified to prevent errors.
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2024-03-29 04:17:19