Earth, on July 29, completed one spin in just 1.59 milliseconds, which is less than its usual 24-hour rotation, recording the shortest day.
According to reports, the planet recently has been increasing its speed.
Earlier in 2020, the Earth saw its shortest month that has ever been recorded since the 1960s. On July 19 of that year, the shortest of all time was measured. It was 1.47 milliseconds shorter than a typical 24-hour day.
However, according to Interesting Engineering (IE), a 50-year phase of shorter days may be starting right now.
The cause of the differing speed of Earth’s spin is still unknown. But scientists speculate that this could be because of processes in the inner or outer layers of the core, oceans, tides or even changes in climate.
Some researchers also believe that this could be related to the movement of Earth’s geographic poles across its surface, known as the “Chandler wobble”.
