Posted on 01/08/2015 10:03:45 AM PST by Red Badger
Sometimes even the rotation of the Earth falls behind schedule. Come June 30, our planet's timekeepers will compensate by adding a "leap second" to clocks.
The International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS) announced the change Monday at the Paris Observatory, in a bulletin addressed to the "authorities responsible for the measurement and distribution of time."
The bulletin advises authorities the extra second will be introduced to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) during the final minute, of the final day of June. That means that right after the clock hits "23h 59m 59s," it will strike "23h 59m 60s" UTC.
Another way to think about it: Instead of the roughly 86,400 seconds we normally experience in a day, we're getting 86,401.
Why, exactly, is this happening? "Well the real simple explanation is the Earth is slowing down a little bit," Nick Stamatakos of the U.S. Naval Observatory, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
Indeed, compared to ultra-precise atomic clocks, the Earth can't quite keep up, because it's "constantly undergoing deceleration caused by the braking action of the tides," according to the U.S. Naval Observatory.
Hence, the "leap second" system started in 1972, so our clocks stay in sync with how long it takes the Earth to rotate on its axis. "Leap seconds ensure that, on average, the Sun continues to be overhead on the Greenwich meridian at noon to within about one [second]," researchers once explained in Metrologia, a journal about the science of measurement.
IERS already has added 25 leap seconds to Coordinated Universal Time -- most recently in June 2012 when leap second glitches messed with website operators including Reddit, Gawker Media and Mozilla.
Leap seconds can only be added in June and December.
The Gulf of Mexico and U.S. Gulf Coast at sunset is shown in this image from the International Space Station and posted to social media on Dec. 14, 2014. To keep clocks in sync with the Earth's slowing rotation, timekeepers will add a "leap second" June 30. Reuters/ Terry Virts/NASA/Handout
PING!.................
Rotational Change is caused by the increased friction caused by carbon diooxide spewed into the atmosphere due to the U.S.’s reliance on fossil fuels.
Fight Rotational Change NOW!
This would be a fine occasion to gather some coupons together, have a party, and watch them expire one second-later than normal.
Just when I was getting everything together, now this will wreck everything, this is going to mess up my whole schedule.
Everybody on the planet, on June 30 at midnight, should all run to the EAST for a minute or so......................................
If you are a IT person, especially for a huge network that spans the globe, it will wreck your whole schedule................
At least they gave us time to prepare.
Yep. Be a whole lot of patching going on.
I better get paid for it.
Thanks for the heads-up. Now I can plan to stay up and watch my atomic clock adjust itself....
Oh, yeah, great - just as soon as I start getting ready to retire the SOBs are adding time to the clock. Don’t TELL me it’s accidental.
If I’m pulling night shift that night, I damn well better get paid my OT on that extra second.
5.56mm
Him and Hillary.....................
I demand the Gubmint enact a comprehensive Rotational Change policy; it’s for the children!
Well, it would have happened sooner, but that Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami sped things up a bit, so more tides were needed...
If you are having sex at that time will you get kudos for staying power?
A cause to believe in !!!
Another event helps to explain it a bit more - the 8.9 Fukushima earthquake in 2011 made our wobbly earth even more wobbly and actually shifted the axis of the earth and moved land mass in Japan. If the sun’s direct rays hit at a different angle, then there will be an impact on climate for some of the regions. Maybe a little more “heat” in the Arctic for awhile... and then not so much four years later as the planet continues adjusting. That’s why God gave us a brain and feet to move away from chronic danger zones... or just live with it and give CNN and MSNBC something to get hysterical about (they should be talking about the nuclear meltdown that occurred afterwards, but then that might really upset some people).
http://www.space.com/11115-japan-earthquake-shortened-earth-days.html
Thanks Red Badger.
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