Re: OT. Days getting longer.. ???

On 16/07/2024 15:18, Jeroen Belleman wrote:

On 7/16/24 13:01, jim whitby wrote:

>
Rising sea levels caused by climate change are making the Earth "fatter"
at the equator - slowing down its rotation and making the days longer.

It is pretty much uniformly distributed over the Earth's surface.

<https://e3.365dm.com/23/02/1920x1080/skynews-planet-earth-
sun_6072574.jpg?20230228074839>

 Oh swell! So we can measure the rise in sea level by measuring
the length of the day. Data, anyone?

It is real - inferred from VLBI data. It is sensitive enough to detect seasonal variations in the northern hemisphere summer (and has been for quite a while). The asymmetry of land masses north and south of the equator. When trees are in leaf in US Canada Russia forests the Earth's moment of inertia is increased by the weight of sap and leaves.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261039439_On_the_length_of_day_with_2008-2010_VLBI_observations
Fairly recent example of such data above. This is the current global solution from the Paris Observatory (seasonally detrended).
https://ivsopar.obspm.fr/24h/index.html
Most of the slowdown comes from tidal drag from sun and moon. Some changes are a result of oceanic currents shifting around too.
Effects of glaciers melting can go either way depending on what altitude the ice in the glacier was at (many glaciers are at high altitudes).
--
Martin Brown