Days growing longer due to climate change, research finds

Since 2000, increase in length of day has risen sharply to 1.33 milliseconds per century

Climate change is causing Earth's days to lengthen slightly, according to research published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

As ice sheets melt at the Earth's poles, the redistribution of mass, leading to sea-level rise, is accelerating the length of the day at an unprecedented rate.

Researchers from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and ETH Zurich found that the length of day increased by approximately 0.3 to 1.0 milliseconds per century due to climate change throughout the 20th century.

However, since 2000, this rate has sharply risen to 1.33 milliseconds per century.