Humanity will have to subtract a second from time for the first time

Scientist Yuzefovich said that soon he will have to subtract a second from time for the first time in his life.

A study by scientists has found that melting glaciers are slowing the planet’s rotation, which has recently increased, but this effect will not last long. According to Pavel Yuzefovich, a senior lecturer at the Department of Higher Geodesy and the Laboratory of Gravimetry at the Moscow State University of Geodesy and Cartography, by 2029 the inhabitants of the Earth will have to adjust world time for the first time in history, removing one second from it.

Study published in the journal Nature, showed that melting polar ice leads to a slowdown in the planet’s rotation speed, which affects the overall time reckoning. Yuzefovich noted that the existing UTC time scale, based on the uniform atomic TAI and non-uniform UT1, is regularly adjusted by one second to reconcile the two scales.

Scientists warn of a possible negative acceleration of the Earth’s rotation due to the interaction of the core and mantle. However, massive melting of ice in the Arctic and Antarctic leads to an increase in the polar moment of inertia and a slowdown in rotation. This could delay adding an extra second to the UTC scale for several years.

Although the “extra second” problem has not been completely resolved, the changes will be delayed until at least 2029. For the first time in history, humanity will have to adjust world time by subtracting an extra second.