Earth Spun Faster in 2009 Due to Ocean Current?

[Dead_Parrot]

Did it feel like time flew in November 2009? It turns out the days were actually going a wee bit faster for part of that month, according to a team of NASA and European scientists.

Earth spun about 0.1 millisecond faster for a two-week stretch, said study co-author Steven Marcus, a researcher at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

The planet's speedier spin appears to have been due to a slowdown in an ocean current that whips around Antarctica.

"The Earth speeding up is just like a [twirling ice] skater pulling in her arms," he explained. When the skater does this, she spins faster, because the laws of physics dictate that her body must conserve what's called angular momentum.

More: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/02/120222-earth-spin-faster-time-oceans-el-nino-science/

[VWolf]

1. Always the spinning ice skater analogy!

After all this time, you'd think someone would come up with another one.

[Chemisse]

2. That is so true. I saw this same analogy applied to a different concept, just today!