Today, Earth records one of its shortest days, amid warnings from NASA scientists.
Today, Earth records one of its shortest days, amid warnings from NASA scientists.
2025-08-05 07:23
Shafaq News – Follow-up
Earth experienced one of its shortest days in history on Tuesday, an unusual phenomenon that caused the planet’s rotation to noticeably accelerate. Scientists, particularly from NASA, have warned of the potential environmental and health consequences of this phenomenon.
According to experts, the slight change is caused by the moon’s gravitational forces causing the planet to rotate faster, resulting in a slight decrease in the length of a day by 1.25 milliseconds from the usual 24-hour period.
Although this change is not observable by humans, scientists warn that the continued acceleration of the Earth’s rotation could have disastrous long-term consequences.
Scientists point out that the acceleration of the Earth’s rotation increases centrifugal force, pushing ocean water from the poles toward the equator.
A small increase in the Earth’s rotation speed of just one mile per hour could raise sea levels by several inches in tropical regions, potentially submerging low-lying coastal cities already threatened by rising seas.
In more extreme scenarios, where the Earth’s rotation speed increases by 100 miles per hour, large parts of the equatorial regions could be completely submerged as water rushes south from the poles.
The changes are not limited to geography alone. The acceleration of the Earth’s rotation could shorten the length of the solar day to 22 hours, disrupting the human biological rhythm, or what is known as the biological clock.
Previous studies have shown that even minor changes, such as daylight saving time, are associated with increased rates of heart attacks, strokes, and traffic accidents, suggesting that permanent changes may be more serious.
NASA astronomer Sten Odenwald also warned that weather will become more extreme as the Earth’s rotation accelerates, as the Coriolis effect, which drives storm rotation, will become stronger, leading to faster and more destructive hurricanes.
These subtle changes in the Earth’s rotation are tracked using atomic clocks, which rely on the oscillation of atoms in a vacuum chamber to measure time with extreme precision and form the global reference for UTC time.
What causes this acceleration?
Astrophysicist Graham Jones of University College London discovered this change earlier this year, indicating the possibility of additional acceleration on July 9, July 22, and August 5.
According to scientists, Earth’s rotation is affected by several natural factors, including earthquakes, ocean currents, melting ice, the movement of molten layers in the planet’s core, and major weather patterns such as the El Niño phenomenon. Jones is still investigating the internal causes of this as-yet-unexplained acceleration.
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