You won't believe what's happening to Earth's spin
Good morning from the coulees — the wind's up, the sky's wide, and Lethbridge has something to say. And today, what we have to say is, "Are you kidding me?" Look, I just read something that made me spill my coffee, and that's saying something when you're used to the Chinook wind trying to wrestle it right out of your hands. They're saying our oceans, the very water we rely on, are slowing down the Earth's spin. Not by much, mind you, but enough that scientists are noticing.
### The Earth's New Pace
It's called the "local so what" in this business, and the local so what for the *entire planet* is that sea level rise is actually changing how fast we rotate. For 3.6 million years, we haven't seen anything like this. Think about that for a second. We're talking about a millisecond per century, which doesn't sound like much, but when you consider the sheer mass of water shifting around, it's enough to mess with our very rotation.
* The culprit: Human-driven climate change and the resulting sea level rise. * The effect: Earth's rotation is slowing down. * The magnitude: A little over a millisecond per century. * The last time: We haven't seen this rate in 3.6 million years.
Look, you stand on the High Level Bridge, feel that wind rip through the valley, and you can practically feel the planet turning under your feet. It's a steady, constant thing, like the sun rising over the Oldman River. To think that we, right here, are making enough of an impact to actually slow down this big blue marble? It puts a different spin on things, doesn't it? Makes you think about those irrigation canals, how much water we're moving around just to make this land bloom. Everything's connected, from the coulees to the cosmos.
Jolene Blackwater, MiTL Sports Desk.
You know Keith's gonna have a field day with this one on the Morning Wire — catch the whole crew live at mornings.live.