The days are getting shorter and it’s not just a feeling
Do you feel that the days are always too short to do everything? It’s the fault of the Earth, showed a new study published last week.
According to the study published on the Norwegian time zone tracking site, timeanddate.com, the Earth would have completed the fastest lap in history on June 29. Indeed, on this day, the Earth would have taken 1.59 milliseconds less than the usual 24 hours to complete its revolution.
This is a new record in a series started since 2020, according to what is mentioned in the report. “In 2020, timeanddate reported that Earth had reached its shortest 28 days since precise daily measurements using atomic clocks began in the 1960s,” the study authors wrote.
The shortest day of the year 2020 was July 19 (-1.47 milliseconds). Since then, the Earth has been rotating faster. Particularly in 2022, when we notice that the record of June 29 was almost broken the following month. Indeed, on July 26, the Earth took 1.50 milliseconds less than the normal 24 hours to complete its turn.
We do not yet know the exact cause of this trend towards shorter days.
“It could be related to processes in the inner or outer layers of the Earth, the oceans, the tides or even the climate. Scientists are unsure and struggle to make day length predictions more than a year in advance. However, there are tentative ideas,” the authors explained in their report.
