Time will stop in 2029? Melting polar ice slows Earth's rotation, scientists warn...

In a never-heard situation, global warming and melting of polar ice are slowing down the rotation of Earth and this can affect how time is measured.

In a study published on Wednesday (Mar 27), it was discovered that the melting of polar ice, which has been happening continuously due to climate change, has slowed down the spinning of Earth.

The study's author Duncan Agnew, who is a geophysicist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego, saidthe rapid melting of ice on the poles changes where the mass of the Earth is concentrated.

In turn, the change affects the angular velocity of the planet as the presence of less solid ice at the poles will lead to more mass around the equator.

Speaking to NBC News, Thomas Herring, a professor of geophysics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who was not part of the new study said, “What you’re doing with the ice melt is you’re taking water that’s frozen solid in places like Antarctica and Greenland, and that frozen water is melting, and you move the fluids to other places on the planet. The water flows off towards the equator.”

The groundbreaking study has showcased how humans have been capable of doing something never thought was in control of humanity.

“It’s kind of impressive, even to me, that we’ve done something that measurably changes how fast the Earth rotates. Things are happening that are unprecedented," Agnew said.

So, why will time stop in 2029?

It is universally known that an extra day gets added in the month of February once every four years, which is known as a leap year.

However, after every few years, a 'leap second' also gets added which is usually at the end of December or June.

This happens because the speed at which Earth spins around its axis slightly fluctuates, which means one complete rotation is not exactly one day.

However, after the study, Agnew has called for a 'negative' leap second, which is the deletion of a second for the first time in history.

The professor suggested that the negative leap second should occur in 2029 to account the for fast spinning of the Earth, however, he warned that that this can cause 'unprecedented' problems in smartphones and computers.

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"Extrapolating the trends for the core and other relevant phenomena to predict future Earth orientation shows that Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) as now defined will require a negative discontinuity by 2029," said Professor Agnew, in his new paper.

"This will pose an unprecedented problem for computer network timing and may require changes in UTC to be made earlier than is planned," he added.

Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the ultra-precise 'atomic clock' which keeps ticking continuously and precisely around the world.

However, these atomic clocks fail to align with the observed 'solar time', as per which every day is the representation of a single rotation of the Earth.

If the rotation of the Earth is not slowed by the melting ice, there will be a requirement of the negative leap second three years earlier in 2026, said Professor Agnew.

(With inputs from agencies)