El Niño helps extend the day

2003/01/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Astronomia

There are changes in the rotation speed of the Earth, so the duration of the day is not always the same. According to scientists, these changes were due to the interaction between the tides, the inner layers of the Earth, etc. But not all of these agents were enough to explain the changes. It was suspected that there was another agent.

According to a recent study, scientists have found that the changes caused by El Niño in the volume of Pacific water help extend the day. In fact, at the time of the Child, the mass of hot water west of the Pacific is heated and expanded further. It then moves across the Pacific and has shown that it is able to slow the rotation of the Earth. Analyzing the data of thirty years, it is observed that in the years in which has been El Niño the days have lasted a few microseconds more than in others.