Should The Leap Second Go Take A Leap?

Did you know that the world actually runs on two separate clocks? One is the atomic clock which is defined by the precision of electrons hopping around in atoms. The other is the traditional notion of a rotating Earth. These two schools of thought are at the very base of the argument of whether or not to keep the leap second. Everyone has heard of a leap year, but have you ever heard of a leap second?

 

Defining a Leap Second

Following the work of Louis Essen in the 1950s, the leap second was implemented in 1972. A leap second is one second, measured by atomic clocks which are added or taken away from Coordinated Universal Time, or the UTC. When the leap second is added or subtracted, it then agrees with the astronomical time within 0.9 seconds. It compensates for the slowing down of the Earth’s rotation and is exercised during the months of June or December.

Leap seconds are usually inserted as an additional second after 23:59:59 UTC. The extra second is the 61st second of the very last minute of the month. It is then written as 23:59:60 pm. If you use a 12 hour format, the time will read 11:59:60 pm.

The leap second is inserted at the same time worldwide. The actual time will therefore depend on your particular time zone. Only regions in the UTC time zone will add the second just before the stroke of midnight. For time zones that are east of the UTC, the leap second is added the next day. For time zones that are west of the UTC, the leap second is added earlier on the same day as the UTC. We know that may sound confusing, but it is exactly how our clocks are kept in synchronization.

 

Knowing When a Leap Second is Needed

We know whether or not a leap second is needed because someone actually declares that we need it. The IERS, which is the International Earth Rotations and Reference System Service, observes the rotation of the Earth and about six months in advance. Based on that observation, a message is sent out which reports whether or not to add the leap second at the end of June and December. The IERS schedules the leap second when needed. This keeps the difference between the atomic clocks and Earth’s rotation to below the 0.9 seconds that we mentioned earlier in this post.

Although knowing the reason why a leap second may or may not be needed makes perfect sense, there is a raging debate on whether or not to keep the leap second. Continuing to keep time with the Earth’s rotation seems sane, doesn’t it? To some, it is far from sane. In fact, some believe that it may be the craziest thing ever.

Abandoning the Leap Second: Arguments for and Against It

Approximately 700 representatives from nearly 70 nations will meet in Geneva to decide whether or not to abolish the leap second. The U.S. is the major supporter for abolishing the leap second. They insist that the addition of leap seconds, if botched or perhaps overlooked, could cause major problems if the world’s electronic systems depending on the exact time do not agree with one another. These electronic systems include computer networks, air traffic control systems, cellular networks and financial trading markets.

Doing away with the leap second will remove one source of a possible epic failure of the entire world’s computer networks. Geoff Chester, a representative of the United States Naval Observatory, the primary timekeeper for the U.S., says that the leap second will become a problem if it isn’t taken into account.

This sounds very serious doesn’t it? Examining what Geoff Chester said, it is pretty funny. He is stating that someone may forget to add the second and poof! The system breaks down. This is admitting that there may be future buffoons maintaining major electronic networks. Without resorting to cynicism, he has a point. Someone could forget to add the second. The result is chaos within any of the systems, and no one wants that. Here at OnlineClock.net, we want all computers to work, as well as planes, stock markets and cell phones. After all, it is in our best interests .

However, Britain, China and Canada do not agree with abolishing the leap second. They say that they want to keep the leap second, arguing that there have been absolutely no problems with inserting the leap second thus far. The most recent addition of the leap second was in 2008 and it did not pose a problem. The nations supporting Britain’s position insist that the worries over potential disasters associated with the leap second are greatly exaggerated.

Do you recall the Y2K fear? If you weren’t aware of Y2K (or “The Millenium bug”), it was based on the fact that the dates on nearly all existing computers extended to December 31, 1999. There was a major fear that the world’s computers would fail and everyone would experience utter chaos because of having to adjust the dates on computers to the year 2000 and beyond. In fact, nothing happened. It was all an exaggerated scenario. People lined the streets in little tin foil hats on the eve of that particular New Year. Some of them were joking; unfortunately, others were serious and their little tin foil hats were real. Nevertheless, Britain does have a good point of contention based on past unfounded hysteria.

Defenders of keeping the leap second would like to keep it because they believe that the notion of time has something to do with the rising as well as the setting of the sun. If the leap second is abolished, the astronomical definition of time will rise from the dictation by the world’s atomic clocks. This will amount to a couple of thousandths of a second each day. These thousandths of seconds will manifest themselves into over a minute during a century. Someday, perhaps as far as 100,000 years from now, noon will occur at sunrise! Wow, now that is a strange thought, isn’t it? What they may not have considered during this future scenario is that time will change gradually; the future generations will consider noon at sunrise to be a normal thing, wouldn’t they? If you are thinking to yourself that it’s not normal, that’s because to us it is not normal to experience noon at sunrise. However, the next time you speak to a psychology major ask them to define normal for you. They are likely going to tell you that normal is a very subjective term which is decided by societies that vary among different civilizations and eras. Right now, noon at sunrise is weird; 100,000 years from now it could be considered to be normal.

Astronomers are very leery of the change. They maintain that if a software-guided telescope isn’t pointed in the proper direction, it might not capture the correct image, and updating the software could be a sizable task.

A Modern Problem

The problem of keeping or abolishing the leap second is a modern one. Only a few centuries ago, watches were set by the town clock tower, and time in each town was distinctly different from the next. This posed little to no problems because there wasn’t a need or even an ability to communicate with anyone else in the world. However, railroads changed that completely. There was suddenly a need to set time schedules that agreed throughout the countries. This is what led to the creation of time zones. But the length of what we know as a day and a second remained tied the actual rotation of the Earth.

An appointed group of experts at the International Telecommunications Union began the discussion over the leap second approximately eight years ago. They could not come to an agreement as to whether to keep or get rid of the leap second. The U.S. and Britain have been arguing over the years on this issue.

Discussions continue between the U.S. and Britain, and there is some hope of an agreement. If it is necessary, the elimination of the leap second would be voted on by of all of the delegates. In a poll that was conducted by the International Telecommunications Union last year, only 16 nations actually had an opinion on the matter. Thirteen delegates wanted to abolish the leap second; three wanted to keep it.

Before the meeting of the International Telecommunications Union, support for the British position was increased by briefing the other representatives around the world. These briefing explained Britain’s arguments in order to best understand and vote on whether to abolish the leap second.

Probable Outcome

Future talks will focus on a better understanding of the larger social implications of the change. Hopefully, a decision that everyone agrees on can be reached. For now, the leap second will continue to be added into the timescale. This is because the ITU has put off a decision until 2015! So the next leap second will be at midnight, June 30th of this year.

When you think about it, it is kind of funny that we are arguing over a second. It seems trivial until you delve into what could happen if we forget. Lots of us would like to keep computers continuously working and to wake up at noon. This train of thought would dictate that we throw out the idea of a leap second. Many older people would disagree. People get up early and eat lunch at noon. Keeping the leap second will keep sunrise at dawn and noon when the sun is overhead, just as it has always been.

What do you think? Is it a plausible idea that time does not have to agree with the thought of when dawn or noon should be? The decision actually boils down to atomic time or astronomic time. We have discussed these types of time measurements at length on this blog. It is a matter of preference, but the leap second debate is a matter of possible disaster and a weird future according to generations past.

OnlineClock.net will continue to provide you with the precise time, which will include the leap second. We will also keep you apprised of any new decisions regarding the leap second. After all, time and its precisely measured seconds are at the base of our existence; you can count on us!

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