3 ms·
Not sure why this is downvoted, this is absolutely the case, but the effect is small https://climate.nasa.gov/faq/30/if-all-of-earths-ice-melts-and-flows-into-
by throwaway2048 6y ago
Not sure why this is downvoted, this is absolutely the case, but the effect is small
https://climate.nasa.gov/faq/30/if-all-of-earths-ice-melts-and-flows-into-the-ocean-what-would-happen-to-the-planets-rotation/ https://climate.nasa.gov/faq/30/if-all-of-earths-ice-melts-a...
- foota 6y agoI'm surprised by the magnitude of the effect. I wouldn't have expected things to move around enough for the length of a day to vary by a millisecond?
- kd5bjo 6y agoIt doesn’t mention what sort of frequency those variations happen at. If the variation is caused primarily by plate tectonics, it might take a year or more to swing between the two extremes.
- quietbritishjim 6y agoExcellent link, thanks! Here are some key points for convenience (although the article's so short that this is practically half of it): > the rate of rotation varies by up to a millisecond per day [regardless of ice melting] > Melting land ice ... will change the Earth’s rotation only if the meltwater flows into the oceans > For example, if the Greenland ice sheet were to completely melt and the meltwater were to completely flow into the oceans, then ... the length of the day [would become] longer ... by about two milliseconds > Melting sea ice, such as the Arctic ice cap, does not change sea level because the ice displaces its volume and, hence, does not change the Earth’s rotation.