No, Euronews, a Millisecond Change in the Length of Day Can’t Be Tied to Climate Change, Nor Is It a Crisis
By
Anthony Watts
March 20, 2026
Euronews, writing in a recent article titled “Unprecedented in the past 3.6 million years’: How human-made climate change is making days longer,’” claims that climate change is slowly but measurably altering Earth’s rotation, lengthening the day by about 1.33 milliseconds over a century, implying troubling consequences ahead for society and the planet because it is “unprecedented in the past 3.6 million years.” This is patently and demonstrably false. Variations in Earth’s length of day (LOD) of this magnitude or greater are routine and naturally occurring. The 1.33 millisecond variation poses no biological or societal threat, and technologies tied to time can be adjusted, if necessary, to account for the change.
Euronews’ article relies on a recent study suggesting that melting ice and mass redistribution are influencing Earth’s rotation. While redistribution of mass can affect angular momentum of the spinning Earth, which is basic physics, the framing of the article implies something unprecedented or destabilizing. The historical record shows otherwise.
Earth’s rotation has never been perfectly constant. It fluctuates continuously due to multiple natural mechanisms operating on different timescales.
Seasonal redistribution of mass in the atmosphere and oceans adds about 0.5–1 millisecond annually, as wind systems shift and ocean currents adjust. Interannual climate patterns such as El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) contribute an additional ±0.3–0.5 millisecond variation. None of these processes are new, and none are evidence of planetary instability.
https://climaterealism.com/2026/03/no-euronews-a-millisecond-change-in-the-length-of-day-cant-be-tied-to-climate-change-nor-is-it-a-crisis/
