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Earth's Speeding Rotation: Shorter Days and GPS Chaos

6/24/2025

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Summary

Story summary

Earth's rotation is speeding up, resulting in shorter days. Since 2020, we've witnessed record-breaking brief days, with projections indicating this trend will continue into mid-2025. Melting glaciers and shifting ocean currents are likely culprits. This rapid change poses challenges for timekeeping, complicating GPS systems and possibly necessitating negative leap seconds to keep everything in sync.

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Story summary

Earth's rotation is speeding up, resulting in shorter days. Since 2020, we've witnessed record-breaking brief days, with projections indicating this trend will continue into mid-2025. Melting glaciers and shifting ocean currents are likely culprits. This rapid change poses challenges for timekeeping, complicating GPS systems and possibly necessitating negative leap seconds to keep everything in sync.