We've known for some time now that Earth's days are getting longer as the Moon continues to move away from us at a creeping rate.
."The Sun's gravity pulls on these atmospheric bulges, producing a torque on the Earth. But instead of slowing down Earth's rotation like the Moon, it speeds it up."Since the Moon's influence has been much stronger than the Sun's for most of Earth's history, the slowdown has dominated. But there was the aforementioned period during which the days stayed steady. The team found this because of the atmosphere: It was warmer and, therefore, bigger.also played a role.
During this stable period in Earth's day-length timeline, the team found through computer modeling that the temperature produced waves that synchronized with the length of the day. The day was about 20 hours; the resonance, the time it takes for a bulge to travel around the planet, was about 10 hours.effect of this atmospheric jiggery-pokery on Earth's rotation rate then neatly countered the slowdown effect of the receding Moon..
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