Following climate change, melting polar ice is slowing down Earth’s rotation. Earth might delay the need for a “negative leap second” until 2029.
 　A new study found melting ice in Greenland and Antarctica by the effect of global warming has affected Earth’s rotation since 1990. If not for climate change, a negative leap second might have needed to be added to UTC as soon as 2026. Now such need might be delayed until at least 2029.
 　A negative leap second is a second that is subtracted from our clocks to keep them in sync with Earth’s rotation. “This is an unprecedented situation and a big deal,” said one expert. Negative leap seconds present a challenge because of our current computing infrastructure. They’re also a challenge for the financial industry, where each transaction must have its own unique time stamp. In fact, a negative leap second has never been added or tested, so the problems it could create are without precedent.

　氣候變遷導致極地冰層融化，減慢了地球自轉的速度，導致我們對「負閏秒」的需求可能被推遲至2029 年。
　一項新研究發現，格陵蘭島和南極洲的冰層因全球暖化而融化，自1990年以來影響了地球的自轉速度。如果不是因為氣候變遷，世界協調時間（UTC）可能最快在2026 年就需要增加一個負閏秒。但以現況看來，可能至少會推遲到2029 年才增加負閏秒。
　負閏秒是指從時鐘減少一秒，使其能與地球的自轉同步。一位專家說：「這是前所未有的情況，也是一件非同小可的大事。」負閏秒為人類帶來一大挑戰，因為我們目前的電腦基礎設施難以因應。負閏秒對金融業也是一大挑戰，因為每一筆交易都有其獨特的時間戳記。事實上，負閏秒從未實際被增加過或測試過，因此它可能造成的問題也是前所未見的。