"Global Warming's Impact on Timekeeping: The Delayed 'Drop Second'"
Geophysicists suggest that due to the Earth's increasing rotational speed caused by factors such as melting polar ice and fluctuations in the planet's magnetic field, a negative leap second may need to be added to the Coordinated Universal Time around 2029. This trend, highlighted in a study published in Nature, indicates a departure from the regular addition of leap seconds to counteract Earth's rotation since 1972. The potential need for a negative leap second raises concerns about the synchronization of interconnected computer systems in a computer-reliant world, with implications for global timekeeping and potential disruptions.
