5 ms·

Neat article, then I read the last sentence. That was a very large leap from Earth cycle to blaming global warming... Isn't this happening because of the moon

• mikeash 14y ago
  The moon's influence contributes a continual and steady slowing of the Earth's rotation. If that's all there was, the graph would show a basically constant deceleration over time. Any variations beyond that are due to other factors. Changes in the distribution of mass on the Earth contribute small but measurable changes to the rate of rotation of the Earth. Large earthquakes can change the length of the day significantly (relative to the scale we're discussing). Glaciers melting would do the same thing. Large dams do it too, but oppositely. It's not a large leap at all.
• joezydeco 14y ago
  Earthquakes. Fukushima 2011 shortened the day by 1.8 microseconds. Sumatra 2004 took away 6.8 microseconds.