Climate change slows Earth's rotation, lengthening days

g1.globo.com (Portuguese) — March 13, 2026 at 01:01 PM UTC

Climate change is lengthening Earth's days, with the current rate of increase being the longest in at least 3.6 million years. Melting ice is redistributing ocean mass, slowing Earth's rotation. This phenomenon is unprecedented in recent geological history, with days lengthening by about 1.33 milliseconds per century. Scientists used fossilized marine organisms to reconstruct past sea levels and calculate changes in Earth's rotation, linking the current trend to human-driven global warming.

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