3 ms·
> for instance, above normal fresh water accumulation on land will measurably change the length of a day Is there a name for this that I can google for?
by vikiomega9 5y ago
> for instance, above normal fresh water accumulation on land will measurably change the length of a day
Is there a name for this that I can google for?
- echelon 5y agoI was curious: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_length_fluctuations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_length_fluctuations
- HPsquared 5y agoThe general physics concept is moment of inertia. If water is moved uphill, this redistributes some of the Earth's mass further away from the axis of rotation, which increases its moment of inertia. Since the total angular momentum of the Earth is not changed by doing this, the result is a reduction of the angular velocity, in other words lengthening the day. NASA calculated, for instance, that filling the Three Gorges Dam reservoir would lengthen the day by 0.06 microseconds.
- swader999 5y agoI wondered why the days felt longer. Thanks.