{"id":336991,"date":"2024-07-19T17:32:21","date_gmt":"2024-07-19T15:32:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=336991"},"modified":"2024-07-19T17:32:23","modified_gmt":"2024-07-19T15:32:23","slug":"no-newsweek-sea-level-rise-is-not-causing-longer-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=336991","title":{"rendered":"No, Newsweek, Sea Level Rise Is Not Causing Longer Days"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From ClimateRealism<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Linnea Lueken<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guest Post by David Middleton<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

*Editors\u2019 Note: This guest post by Geologist David Middleton discusses a recent claim in the media that sea level rise is causing longer days by changing the rate of the planet\u2019s rotation. However, Middleton reveals that there are major problems with the theory, not least of which that this is not a new phenomenon. As Climate Realism has covered dozens of times<\/a>, models are not proof, and these studies certainly lean on modelling.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Unprecedented\u2019 Sea Level Rise Is Making Earth\u2019s Days Longer<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Published Jul 15, 2024 at 3:00 PM EDT<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Jess<\/a> Tho<\/a>mson<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Science Reporter<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our changing climate is impacting our planet in a huge number of ways\u2014ranging from powerful hurricanes and intense droughts to invasive species and ocean acidification\u2014but there might be another bizarre effect that you\u2019ve never heard of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Climate change might actually be slowly changing the length of a day on Earth, according to a new paper in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences<\/em>.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a result of sea levels rising\u2014because of increased temperatures and the melting of the polar ice caps\u2014thereby causing a redistribution of mass from the poles of our planet toward the equator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[\u2026]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Newsweek<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Newsweek<\/em>? They\u2019re still in business?<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Newsweek, April 28, 1975<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The PNAS article is pay-walled. However, the abstract says it all\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abstract<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The melting of ice sheets and global glaciers results in sea-level rise, a pole-to-equator mass transport increasing Earth\u2019s oblateness and resulting in an increase in the length of day (LOD). Here, we use observations and reconstructions of mass variations at the Earth\u2019s surface since 1900 to show that the climate-induced LOD trend hovered between 0.3 and 1.0 ms\/cy in the 20th century, but has accelerated to 1.33 \u00b1 0.03 ms\/cy since 2000. We further show that surface mass transport fully explains the accelerating trend in the Earth oblateness observed in the past three decades. We derive an independent measure of the decreasing LOD trend induced by Glacial Isostatic Adjustment (GIA) of \u22120.80 \u00b1 0.10 ms\/cy, which provides a constraint for the mantle viscosity. The sum of this GIA rate and lunar tidal friction fully explains the secular LOD trend that is inferred from the eclipse record in the past three millennia prior to the onset of contemporary climate change. Projections of future climate warming under high emission scenarios suggest that the climate-induced LOD rate may reach 2.62 \u00b1 0.79 ms\/cy by 2100, overtaking lunar tidal friction as the single most important contributor to the long-term LOD variations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PNAS<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s models all the way down. There\u2019s no way to measure fractions of milliseconds per century (ms\/cy) changes in the length of day (LOD) over any time period, much less at a centennial to decadal scale. Might as well try to determine \u201cHow many angels can dance on the head of a pin?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The LOD has been generally increasing over geologic time (Mitchell & Kirscher, 2023<\/a>). As the Earth has pushed the Moon farther away, the Earth\u2019s rotation has slowed down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1.33 ms\/cy = 0.0000133 s\/yr<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At a rate of 0.0000133 seconds per year, in 80 million years, the sidereal day will be 18 minutes longer than it currently is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back in the Cretaceous Period (~80 mya), when sea level was much higher than it is today and there was little to no polar ice, the days were about 23.5 hours long (de Winter et al., 2020<\/a>). The rate of LOD change from 80 mya to present (1950 AD) was about 2.25 ms\/cy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Figure 7 from de Winter et al., 2020<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Allow this to sink in: The rate of LOD change from 80 mya to 1950 AD was about +2.25 ms\/cy. The rate of LOD change since 2000 AD, allegedly driven by \u201c\u2018unprecedented\u2019 sea level rise is only +1.33 ms\/cy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, there are no Cretaceous measurements of LOD. This is based on reconstructions from rudist shells and models\u2026 And the error bars are in days and hours\u2026 not milliseconds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Measuring LOD<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Current LOD can be directly measured very precisely. Schreiber et al., 2023 employed \u201ca laser ring gyroscope<\/a>\u201d to measure changes in the sidereal day. They found that the LOD fluctuated by as much as 6 ms over the 120-day measurement period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If LOD fluctuates by 6 ms over a two month period a 1.33 \u00b1 0.03 ms\/century increase in the LOD is about as relevant as a 1-3 mm\/yr rate of sea level rise is to a 1 meter daily tidal range.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

References:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

de Winter, N.J., Goderis, S., Van Malderen, S.J.M., Sinnesael, M., Vansteenberge, S., Snoeck, C., Belza, J., Vanhaecke, F. and Claeys, P. (2020), Subdaily-Scale Chemical Variability in a Torreites Sanchezi<\/em> Rudist Shell: Implications for Rudist Paleobiology and the Cretaceous Day-Night Cycle. Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology<\/em>, 35: e2019PA003723. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1029\/2019PA003723<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mitchell, R.N., Kirscher, U. Mid-Proterozoic day length stalled by tidal resonance. Nat. Geosci.<\/em> 16<\/strong>, 567\u2013569 (2023). https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s41561-023-01202-6<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schreiber, K.U., Kodet, J., Hugentobler, U. et al.<\/em> Variations in the Earth\u2019s rotation rate measured with a ring laser interferometer. Nat. Photon.<\/em> 17<\/strong>, 1054\u20131058 (2023). https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s41566-023-01286-x<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shahvandi MK, Adhikari S, Dumberry M, Mishra S, Soja B. The increasingly dominant role of climate change on length of day variations. Proc Natl Acad Sci<\/em> U S A. 2024 Jul 23;121(30):e2406930121. doi: 10.1073\/pnas.2406930121. Epub 2024 Jul 15. PMID: 39008671.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This guest post by Geologist David Middleton discusses a recent claim in the media that sea level rise is causing longer days by changing the rate of the planet\u2019s rotation. However, Middleton reveals that there are major problems with the theory, not least of which that this is not a new phenomenon. As Climate Realism has covered dozens of times, models are not proof, and these studies certainly lean on modelling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":336993,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691818056,691829761,691829747,691829760],"class_list":{"0":"post-336991","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-climate-change","9":"tag-level-rise","10":"tag-longer-days","11":"tag-newsweek","13":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/0Earth-NASA-1-scaled-1.jpg?fit=2560%2C1743&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1pFl","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":336914,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=336914","url_meta":{"origin":336991,"position":0},"title":"Sea Level Rise Is Causing Longer Days?","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"18\/07\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"It\u2019s models all the way down. There\u2019s no way to measure fractions of milliseconds per century (ms\/cy) changes in the length of day (LOD) over any time period, much less at a centennial to decadal scale. Might as well try to determine \u201cHow many angels can dance on the head\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"CLIMATE CRAZINESS\"","block_context":{"text":"CLIMATE CRAZINESS","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=climate-craziness"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/zslide-16-1024-1.webp?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/zslide-16-1024-1.webp?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/zslide-16-1024-1.webp?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/zslide-16-1024-1.webp?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":355143,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=355143","url_meta":{"origin":336991,"position":1},"title":"Newsweek Claims U.S. Cities Would be Underwater by 2050, Forgets the Same Predictions Were Made for 2000 and 2020","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"18\/12\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"A recent article in\u00a0Newsweek, titled \u201cMap Shows US Cities That Could Be Underwater in 2050,\u201d claims that a number of major cities will be submerged beneath rising seas by 2050 if humans don\u2019t stop climate change. This is false, as false as when the same claims were made by multiple\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Climate change\"","block_context":{"text":"Climate change","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=climate-change"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/0BB1l20pd.jpeg?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/0BB1l20pd.jpeg?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/0BB1l20pd.jpeg?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/0BB1l20pd.jpeg?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/0BB1l20pd.jpeg?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":281790,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=281790","url_meta":{"origin":336991,"position":2},"title":"Applying Scale and Context to 2023\u2019s \u201cRecord\u201d High Temperatures","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"04\/10\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"From Watts Up With That? Guest \u201cgeological scale and context\u201d by David Middleton, 2023 has been a hot year\u2026 We have the makings of a super-El Ni\u00f1o and an\u00a0unprecedented injection of water vapor\u00a0into the upper atmosphere stacked on top of a general warming trend since 1978, if not since the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Climate change\"","block_context":{"text":"Climate change","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=climate-change"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/OIG-2023-08-04T125905.505.jpeg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/OIG-2023-08-04T125905.505.jpeg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/OIG-2023-08-04T125905.505.jpeg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/OIG-2023-08-04T125905.505.jpeg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":374515,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=374515","url_meta":{"origin":336991,"position":3},"title":"Evidence of Catastrophic Glacier Melt in\u2026 New York City?","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"10\/04\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The article goes on to describe all of the breathtaking evidence of catastrophic glacier melting in and around New York City:\u00a0Glacial erratics,\u00a0glacial striations, more glacial erratics\u2026 Oddly enough they failed to mention that Long Island is basically a terminal moraine.","rel":"","context":"In \"glacier melt\"","block_context":{"text":"glacier melt","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=glacier-melt"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/0Illustration-of-New-York-City-flooded-with-monuments-and-streets-submerged-due-to-the-hypothetical-melting-of-the-Doomsday-Glacier-1200x727-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C727&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/0Illustration-of-New-York-City-flooded-with-monuments-and-streets-submerged-due-to-the-hypothetical-melting-of-the-Doomsday-Glacier-1200x727-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C727&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/0Illustration-of-New-York-City-flooded-with-monuments-and-streets-submerged-due-to-the-hypothetical-melting-of-the-Doomsday-Glacier-1200x727-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C727&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/0Illustration-of-New-York-City-flooded-with-monuments-and-streets-submerged-due-to-the-hypothetical-melting-of-the-Doomsday-Glacier-1200x727-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C727&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/0Illustration-of-New-York-City-flooded-with-monuments-and-streets-submerged-due-to-the-hypothetical-melting-of-the-Doomsday-Glacier-1200x727-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C727&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":400629,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=400629","url_meta":{"origin":336991,"position":4},"title":"No Evidence Climate Change Has Accelerated Sea Level Rise","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"07\/09\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Climate change will make oceans rise 3 - 10 feet by the end of this century, said scientists and the media. 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