Why Does The Earth's Rotation Rate Vary?

www.scientificamerican.com...

Since Scientific American can't answer that question, I thought there may be something hidden that is the result of CONSPIRACY!!!
DA-DA-DA-dum!!

The entire Solar System has been doing odd things for a while now. This includes all of the planets warming, the warping of the Heliosphere, etc.

Since SO many of the out of the box (Schrodinger told you to get out of it! (If you can and NOW!)) thinkers who are connected to multitudes of differing thoughts, spiritual and scientific, this looks like playtime for those compelled to wonder.

Your thoughts?

BTW, the question does not involve the Moon's influence. Look at the chart on the citation. As far as I know the Moon has been pretty regular in its movement and it does NOT explain the rate change of the Earth's rotation.

What pendulum (metric) is so variable and powerful to alter a 6 x 1024 kilograms, or 1.3 x 1025 pounds, mass's movement.

a reply to: largo

Could it not just be something to do with the quasars movement?

Also are they making more precise measurements now compared to 40+ years ago?

UT1 is determined using very long baseline interferometry (VLBI), a technique that relies on signals from extremely distant quasars to measure Earth’s precise orientation in space. In 1972 a policy to add a small unit of time, called a leap second, to UTC was implemented to correct the minute discrepancies found using such precise measurements.

Simply put, they are not accounting for the parallel earths, as odd as it may seem I have always thought of the Moon as being at the center of all that.

In other words, to get from Earth A to Earth B you must first travel around the moon.

Ok so I found it very interesting that we have been slowing down more slowly if this is only the 4th leap second added since 1999...

Interesting also that this occurred during the alignment of Jupiter and Venus not seen for 2,000 years...

Purely coincidence I am sure, but I find that interesting.

Interesting topic. I look forward to reading members theories.

I haven't a clue.

I'd put it down to volcanic eruptions. And the Earth simply 'takes a moment' from normal rotation before each large eruption.

You know sometimes when you 'pause' momentarily before a substantial fart.

Then again, I'm no expert! But wouldn't it be fun if there was a correlation between major eruptions and a slowing of the Earths rotation.

Despite my lack of scientific credentials I'd call it the 'Humans Eh! Rotational Flatulence Effect'.
H.E.R.F.E
You heard it here first folks! - you will probably never hear it again! But just like a silent fart, just cause you don't hear it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

a reply to: largo

Well, really your question as it is posted is patently false, the Earths rotation is predictable, and has been so since humans began making observations, the rate at which the Earths rotation slows however is owing to such a complex dynamical model that it can't be predicted accurately, but the main causing factor is easily understood by Physicist to be the "drag" in layman terms, of the moon upon the Earth. This of course only affects the Earths day length, and not the orbit we take around the Sun.

As far as the Universe doing "odd things" for a while now, I think you mean our Galaxy not the Universe, since we hardly have any model or accurate empirical data of the entire Universe LOL, and I'm not aware of any discrepancies in acceptable yet unpredictable behavior from anything occurring.

Here is one way the Earth's Rotation can slow. According to NASA.

2010

The massive 8.8 earthquake that ...,
hit Chile Saturday and should have shortened the length of an Earth day by 1.26 microseconds


Strong earthquakes have altered Earth's days and its axis in the past. The 9.1 Sumatran earthquake in 2004, which set off a deadly tsunami, should have shortened Earth's days by 6.8 microseconds and shifted its axis by about 2.76 inches (7 cm, or 2.32 milliarcseconds).

space . com / Chile Earthquake May Have Shortened Days on Earth

Not much, but it's a start in figuring out what the causes are.


Mike Grouchy

IMHO the people who measure things like microseconds are so #ing anal they are probably wondering when they will take their next breath.

I agree with the person who said measurements are more accurate than they were 25, 50, 100, or 200 years ago.

If not then I'll just sleep for the extra fraction of a second.

originally posted by: largo
Your thoughts?

If we knew the answer it would be in the article, but it's got something to do with water distribution is my guess. There are many possible things going on with water, but let's start with the favorite ATS conspiracy topic, fracking:

If You Think the Water Crisis Can't Get Worse, Wait Until the Aquifers Are Drained

Scarce groundwater supplies also are being used for energy. A recent study from CERES, an organization that advocates sustainable business practices, indicated that competition for water by hydraulic fracturing—a water-intensive drilling process for oil and gas known as "fracking"—already occurs in dry regions of the United States. The February report said that more than half of all fracking wells in the U.S. are being drilled in regions experiencing drought, and that more than one-third of the wells are in regions suffering groundwater depletion.

So we're pumping large amounts of water from deep underground and using it for various purposes, one of which is fracking, which is put back in the ground but in very dry regions it might end up at different depths than it was originally. Why does this matter? When a spinning ballerina extends her arms, her spin rate slows down, and when she pulls in her arms her spin rate speeds up, from conservation of angular momentum, and moving lots of water could have a similar effect, if we are putting it back in at depths different from that which it was extracted

The timing certainly matches the timing on the chart of the leap seconds according to this:

A 2013 study of 40 aquifers across the United States by the U.S. Geological Survey reports that the rate of groundwater depletion has increased dramatically since 2000,

Now when did the rate of adding leap seconds slow down? Since 2000, so that's a match between the groundwater pumping increase, and the leap second added at a slower rate, right? There may be other factors at work here too but I think that the increase in pumping groundwater to the surface since 2000 should at least be high on the suspect list if not the most likely explanation.

a reply to: largo

Just going to throw this into the mix .

Joshua’s Long Day around the World?

Having concluded that Joshua’s long day is a miracle, we may ask whether or not it was restricted just to the area of Canaan or whether it was global in scope. Certainly a “missing day” would generate considerable consternation among the peoples of the world, provided it was a global event. Are there other accounts of a long day or even a long night? Indeed, we can find stories of a long night as well as a long day. We can even find tales where the sun hung near the horizon for a long time. All the accounts taken together allow us to ascertain the time of day when Joshua told the sun to stand still.
Some of the world’s recitations of Joshua’s long day are vague and unspecific while others are quite clear. Among the former are those which relate only that the people had knowledge of the concept that the sun, moon, and stars can reverse their motions. An example of one of these is the account referred to by Augustine in The City of God where he quotes the Æneid about a witch who:

...can reverse the wheeling of the planets, halt rivers in their flowing.22

www.geocentricity.com...

a reply to: largo

Before getting into woo-land, why not actually think about science?

There are two effects:

a) changes in moment of inertia. This means that that the distribution of mass in the Earth is not constant. At the small deviations being considered, things like geophysical alterations and ocean patterns change the inhomogeneous distribution of mass, and as a result, to maintain angular momentum, the rotation rate.

b) external transfer of angular momentum. This is known transfer mechanism of angular momentum from the rotation of the earth to the orbit of the Moon from tidal effects.

Why Does The Earth's Rotation Rate Vary?

I should think a number of variables combine to play a part in the earth's varying rotation. One such variable undoubtedly must be the Moon. It's gravitational influence on the earth would be akin to the influence an Olympic hammer thrower feels as he spins and whirls the hammer around him. He won't spin in a perfect circle, so the force of the mass of the hammer will cause a wobble upon the athlete as he rotates.

Combine this effect with plate tectonic motion and large magnitude earthquakes jolting the whole planet, sending seismic shock waves down through the rock towards the planet's core and reverberating around the mantle, plus volcanoes at their initial eruption would act like a rocket booster pushing against the mass of the planet. Also, another variable to factor in would be the spin of the inner molten iron of the earth's core, whose uneven density would act like a braking system, similar to air brakes in a car.

These forces of friction are temporary. Some will work against the earth's rotational momentum, others for it.

The atmosphere is heavier over China from the unrestricted mega tonnage of hydrcarbons released into the atmosphere that Al Gore refuses to carbon tax.

There, mystery solved.

a reply to: mbkennel

You are a dissembler looking to aggravate me right?
I have subscribed to this particular magazine for 40 years or so.
Science is the source of puzzlement in this issue.

In what way can you answer a question like this using science when those experts are at a loss?
Perhaps it's when you rise from your slumber and your massive cranium rising five feet alters things like this?

Woo-woo? Such as considering whether the device using Quasars could be influenced by the modification of a universal constant that actually isn't one. Perhaps it's local, maybe it isn't.

The angular momentum (movement of water out of the ground onto the surface) is cool. The redistribution of the rocks in the lithosphere by volcanic action resulting in similar slowing is possible.
The influence of local planetary objects could be retro-fitted into the data but ....the experts didn't mention it.

Your solutions mentioned are fine but the question is about the IRREGULARITY OF THE ROTATIONAL RATE CHANGES. If you look at the energy required to slow a planet and the Moon's influence is accounted for, what events cause the inconstant trend?

One device that could interrelate is actual expansion of the Earth. If this is Universal (Expansion/dissipation death) it may help prove a cosmological theory. Is the Moon tracking correctly? Could be it is a space station.

Mostly for this thread, I was hoping for some fun. Speculation, including secret experiments or planets, alien influences or just crappy machinery, was my intent. Big league money is spent on this. They hire profoundly intense, over trained smart folks too keep the Web working.
They don't know why (So they say. Conspiracy emerging!!) and while I do not expect this pea under the mattresses to solve it, I thought many, especially here, would find this to be of interest

a reply to: largo

Perhaps forces of gravity have a lot to do with it: multi-directional gravitational pulls of the sun, other bodies in the solar system (e.g Jupiter), the moon, and other bodies beyond, etc. With the earth's rotation constantly changing, the orbit around the sun changing, and the distances between these objects constantly changing due to the elliptical orbits of all of them, it seems to reason that as the earth spins and tilts, it will be slightly affected by these forces. Like the moon affects and creates the tide, a very similar effect with the spin i would think.

Makes sense to me.

The simple reason could be that the earth has different densities in different parts so the rotation is constantly affected by the natural inbalance and it's relation to other celestial objects.

If it was to spin perfectly it would have to be made of substances that were spread absolutely evenly around the globe.

Nowt wrong with a bit of wobble!

Could the weight of 7 billion people have anything to do with it?

originally posted by: Autorico
Could the weight of 7 billion people have anything to do with it?

There was no sudden change in the population around 2000, it's been increasing gradually, which doesn't follow this pattern:


If you want to explain that set of data you have to come up with phenomena which can explain why the sudden change around 2000, when the yearly interval changed suddenly to 7 years from 1999 to 2006.

a reply to: Arbitrageur

Ah ok, cool. I was just throwin it out there.

originally posted by: abeverage
Ok so I found it very interesting that we have been slowing down more slowly if this is only the 4th leap second added since 1999...

Interesting also that this occurred during the alignment of Jupiter and Venus not seen for 2,000 years...

Purely coincidence I am sure, but I find that interesting.

The slow-down didn't happen during the alignment of Jupiter and Venus, but has been happening continuously since the last lead-second. The date of this latest leap-second was agreed-upon to be added on June 30, which is the middle of the year.

They are usually added June 30 (the last day of the 6th month) or December 31 (the last day of the 12th month).

So, as you said, it was a coincidence that Jupiter and Venus were in alignment.