Scientists have proposed to change the calculation of world time
On October 15, the 28th meeting of the General Conference on Weights and Measures was held in the suburbs of Paris. Most of the participants were in favor of eliminating leap seconds in UTC. That's according to Scientific American. Instead of second adjustments, it was decided to use a leap hour. The new rules will come into force on 20 May 2027, when World Metrology Day is celebrated.
On October 15, the 28th meeting of the General Conference on Weights and Measures was held in the suburbs of Paris. Most of the participants were in favor of eliminating leap seconds in UTC. That's according to Scientific American. Instead of second adjustments, it was decided to use a leap hour. The new rules will come into force on 20 May 2027, when World Metrology Day is celebrated.
Since 1972, UTC has received 27 extra seconds. So the atomic clock was coordinated with the rotation of the planet, which gradually slows down. Now the allowable discrepancy between UTC and the UT1 scale tied to the rotation of the Earth will be increased to 1 hour, or 3600 seconds. Adjustments will be added only when this limit is reached.
According to Scientific American, such a need will not arise before 1,000 years. Nature provides evidence that the time scale will remain continuous for centuries and millennia to come. The resolution was adopted by a majority vote, but there was no unity.
Secondary corrections have long interfered with digital systems. On the days of adding a second there were failures and desynchronization of the clock. Switching to the hourly correction reduces the likelihood of such errors and service failures. In addition, recently the Earth began to rotate faster. Because of this, a negative leap second could be required, that is, the withdrawal of one second from the count. This has not been done before, and it threatens to disrupt the infrastructure.
Before the vote, the head of the Advisory Committee on Time and Frequency of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures, Noel Dimark, noted that after 30 years of discussions, participants were ready for a decision. He called the result a historic moment and a decisive step for UTC. Georgette MacDonald, director of the Metrology Research Center of the National Research Council of Canada, added that the solution will ensure the continuity and relevance of UTC for centuries to come.
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