The Effect of Winds and Tides on the Length of the Day

Abstract
The seasonal variation in the zonal winds of the atmosphere are reexamined and estimated to account for a January to July change of 0,5 milliseconds in the length of the day. Thus only one third of the change in length of the day reported by the astronomers is explained by angular momentum transfers between the earth and atmosphere. The corresponding effect of the varying equilibrium body tide of the earth caused by changes in the sun's distance and longitude is negligible. DOI: 10.1111/j.2153-3490.1951.tb00787.x