Last week, an international coalition of scientists and government agencies voted to abolish the leap second (or coordination second), a one-second correction sometimes applied to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) to keep the length and start of the day close to Quasi-Uniform Universal Time (UT).

The atomic clock was introduced in 1967 as a precise measure of the passage of time. They use the oscillations of radioactive atoms and are accurate to within 1/15 billionth of a second per year, depending on the element used. However, the Earth’s rotation is not as consistent, so in 1972 the World Timekeeping Organizations introduced a leap second to synchronize Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) and the standard day/night cycle.

The Earth began to rotate faster and renewed the record for the shortest day – their duration on June 29, 2022 turned out to be 1.59 ms less than the standard 24 hours

The adjustment seemed like a simple enough solution at the time, but almost immediately proved problematic for programmers and the wider tech industry. In 2012, a leap second bug brought down several websites, including Reddit, Mozilla, Gizmodo, Lifehacker, and more. In 2017, Cloudflare’s DNS went down at midnight on January 1, when that year’s leap second began. This year, Meta published a great case for why the world should abandon time-adjustment.

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Unlike a leap year (technically a leap day), which adds one day every four years, ending February on the 29th instead of the 28th, leap seconds are much less predictable. Although the proposed adjustment occurs approximately every 21 months, the actual changes are based on the irregular rotation of the Earth. Since one second is a small increment in time, it is difficult to determine exactly when synchronization occurs after the target year is reached. It’s like trying to hit a target accurately in a game of darts when the distance to it is constantly changing.

In the late 20th century, timekeepers began to realize that time changes could adversely affect computers and software designed to work with constant time. Thus arose the fear of the so-called Y2K, or the problem of the year 2000 – the possibility of incorrect operation of software in connection with the transition from 1999 to 2000.

Everyone agreed that something had to be done, but no one could find a decent solution. It took more than two decades of debate to decide whether to remove the extra second. However, the resolution will not take effect immediately and will not be valid indefinitely – the leap second will be abolished in 2035 for only 100 subsequent years.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), which is responsible for transmitting the world’s time, has yet to vote to approve the resolution at the World Radiocommunication Conference in Dubai next year. However, this is considered a formality as negotiations between the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) and the union have so far been “favorable”, indicating that the ITU agrees to the changes.

The resolution was supported by 59 BIPM member states. Russia and Belarus were the only countries that did not vote for the adoption of the resolution. Belarus abstained, and Russia cited complications related to GLONASS – its global positioning satellite system (they are hard-coded to automatically count leap seconds).

Source: Techspot