Ice Melt and Time Dilation: How Greenland and Antarctica are Impacting the Earth’s Rotation and the Future of Universal Coordinated Time

The melting of ice in Greenland and Antarctica is having a significant impact on the Earth’s rotation speed, which could affect the calculation of Universal Coordinated Time (UCT) in the future. Since 1967, UCT has been determined by ultra-sensitive atomic clocks to ensure the accuracy of digital and communication infrastructures globally.

To maintain synchrony between UCT and astronomical time, leap seconds have been added to atomic time since 1972 to compensate for fluctuations in the Earth’s rotation speed. However, this new challenge posed by melting ice requires metrology specialists to consider introducing a negative leap second in the future.

Metrologists are concerned about the implications of introducing a negative leap second in an increasingly connected world. To address this issue, they plan not to add leap seconds until 2035, allowing the difference between atomic time and the Earth’s rotation to reach one minute before making a decision.

Melting ice in Greenland and Antarctica has been slowing down the Earth’s rotation since the 1990s, affecting fluid distribution on and inside the planet. This delay could push back plans for a negative leap second until 2029, giving metrologists more time to decide on their next steps.

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