The melting of glaciers caused by the world's rising temperatures appears to be causing a slight slowing of the Earth's rotation, another illustration of the far-reaching impact of global climate change, scientists said on Friday.
The driving force behind the modest changes in the Earth's rotation measured by satellites and astronomical methods is a global sea-level rise fueled by an influx of meltwater into the oceans from glaciers, the researchers said.
"Because glaciers are at high latitudes, when they melt they redistribute water from these high latitudes towards lower latitudes, and like a figure skater who moves his or her arms away from their body, this acts to slow the rotation rate of the Earth," Harvard University geophysicist Jerry Mitrovica said.
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