On Wednesday, July 9, 2025, Earth will witness a unique phenomenon: a day will be shorter than 24 hours, due to a slight acceleration in Earth's rotation around its axis.
This acceleration is due to complex natural factors, including the movement of land masses within the Earth's interior, the melting of polar ice, which alters the distribution of water masses on the planet's surface, changes in atmospheric pressure systems and wind movements, as well as the effects of major earthquakes and the movement of tectonic plates.
These factors lead to subtle changes in the Earth's rotational speed, shortening the day by a very small fraction of a second, measured in thousandths of a second, but these are changes of scientific significance.
In practice, people won't notice this change in their daily lives, but this type of phenomenon is closely monitored by experts in earth sciences and timekeeping, given the possibility that it could lead to future changes in global timekeeping, such as the introduction of the "leap second" to adjust the differences between atomic and astronomical time.
Meteorologists at the Arab Weather Center said the climate implications of this phenomenon remain unclear, as there is no conclusive scientific evidence linking the acceleration of the Earth's rotation to direct climate changes such as heat waves, rainfall, or hurricanes.
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