Scientists made another alarming statement about Earth

Earth's rotation speed is gradually increasing, making days slightly shorter. Although we're talking about fractions of a millisecond, several record-short days have been recorded over the past five years, reports DailyGalaxy.

Standard calendar days are conveniently divided into 24 hours, or 86,400 seconds. However, the actual time of one Earth rotation around its axis is slightly less - about 23 hours 56 minutes and 4 seconds. On July 19, 2020, the planet completed a full rotation 1.47 milliseconds faster than usual - this became the shortest day in observation history.

Such cases continue. On July 5, 2021, Earth's rotation accelerated again - this time by 1.66 milliseconds. Scientists do not rule out that a new record may be set this summer, which would be another confirmation of the planet's rotation acceleration trend.

The exact causes of this phenomenon are still unknown, but there are several scientific hypotheses. Possible factors include changes in the movement of Earth's core, mass redistribution due to melting glaciers, and fluctuations in ocean currents. Additionally, the gradual shift of geographic poles may also have an influence.

At the same time, experts emphasize: the acceleration of rotation is most likely a temporary phenomenon. In the long term, Earth is actually rotating more slowly.

For everyday human life, such fluctuations are imperceptible - the differences in day length are so insignificant that only ultra-precise atomic clocks can detect them. However, for satellite navigation systems, where precise synchronization is important, even such small changes can create certain difficulties.