Planet Earth starts to rotate abnormally fast: What is reason and what are scientists going to do?

The speed of the Earth's rotation around its axis has increased abnormally in recent years, and it is possible to compensate for this effect by 2028, Vitaly Palchikov, chief researcher at the department of advanced research and measurements of time and frequency at the All-Russian Research Institute of Physical and Technical and Radio Engineering Measurements, told RIA Novosti.

"The hypothesis related to the change in the moment of inertia of the core [of the Earth] is one of the possible hypotheses explaining the effect of accelerating the rotation of the Earth... According to scientists, the decrease by one second will occur in 2028," Palchikov said.

He explained that now scientists do not have an exhaustive explanation for the acceleration of the Earth's rotation. However, he expressed confidence that someday this phenomenon will be explained.

The scientist also noted that according to other hypothesis, an abnormal amount of precipitation causes acceleration of the Earth's rotation, and evaporation of precipitation, on the contrary, slows down the rotation. However these effects do not compensate each other.

Vitaly Palchikov also noted that one of the consequences of the acceleration of the rotation of the Earth was that in 2022, June 29 was the shortest day in history. According to Palchikov, the acceleration of the Earth's rotation is anomalous, and until recently the rotation of our planet was slowing down. To compensate for the decrease in the speed of the Earth's rotation, an additional 37 seconds have been introduced into the corrections since the 1970s.

Recently, Chinese scientists from the SinoProbe laboratory at Peking University announced that the Earth's core has almost stopped spinning and may soon start spinning in the opposite direction. In an article published in the journal Nature Geoscience, the Chinese scientists noted that the Earth's core stops and changes direction in a periodic cycle that lasts 60-70 years.

Scientists explained that the periodic change in the direction of rotation of the Earth's core is a normal part of its "behavior" and does not pose a threat to life on the planet.

Vice magazine noted that this discovery, if confirmed, could put an end to long-standing mysteries about climate and geological phenomena occurring at the same time and affecting life on our planet.