Timekeeping officials agree to axe the leap second - Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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Every few years since 1972, computers, financial institutions, communications networks and other systems have had to reset their clocks by a single second. On Thursday, the international authority on timekeeping voted to abolish this contentious quirk of global synchronization. The change will take effect in 2027. In a meeting of officials from the International Bureau of Weights and Measures, or BIPM, in France, the group axed the leap second, which had been established to align clocks with Earth's rotation. The practice was similar to that of the leap year, when an extra day is added to calendars to keep in sync with Earth's orbit around the sun. Leap years are predictable, happening every four years. But leap seconds account for seemingly random irregularities in how fast Earth rotates, which has been causing trouble for timekeepers, including the looming possibility of needing a "negative leap second" because Earth's spin is getting faster.
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Timekeeping officials agree to axe the leap second - The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Every few years since 1972, computers, financial institutions, communications networks and other systems have had to reset their clocks by a single second. On Thursday, the international authority on timekeeping voted to abolish this contentious quirk of global synchronization. The change will take effect in 2027. In a meeting of officials from the International Bureau of Weights and Measures, or BIPM, in France, the group axed the leap second, which had been established to align clocks with Earth's rotation. The practice was similar to that of the leap year, when an extra day is added to calendars to keep in sync with Earth's orbit around the sun. Leap years are predictable, happening every four years. But leap seconds account for seemingly random irregularities in how fast Earth rotates, which has been causing trouble for timekeepers, including the looming possibility of needing a "negative leap second" because Earth's spin is getting faster.
Global timekeeping rules change: leap second scrapped from 2027 - Yahoo News Canada
The world's official time standard will stop adding leap seconds from 20 May 2027. The General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) decided to end the practice on Thursday 15 October 2026. The resolution was adopted at the conference's 28th meeting in Versailles, where delegates discussed the future of world time. Until now, leap seconds have been added from time to time to keep atomic time in line with the Earth's rotation. But from 20 May 2027, Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) will run continuously, with no interruptions. Why the leap second is being scrappedThe old rules were meant to keep two different ways of measuring time in step. UTC is based on extremely precise atomic clocks. Astronomical time depends on the Earth's rotation, and that rotation speed varies slightly. To keep the gap between the two time scales small, 27 leap seconds have been added since 1972. The most recent was at the end of 2016. As a result, one minute could exceptionally last 61 seconds. RelatedThese corrections are barely noticeable for people, but they can cause technical problems.
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