69 COUNTRIES VOTE TO END LEAP SECONDS

Representatives from 69 countries voted on 15 October to end the use of leap seconds in the world’s time standard. The vote took place at the General Conference on Weights and Measures in Versailles, France. Under the change, Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) can differ from time based on Earth’s rotation by up to an hour before a correction. Noël Dimarcq, who heads the International Bureau of Weights and Measures’ committee on time and frequency, said before the vote: “After 30 years of debates, we are ready.”

Timekeepers have used leap seconds to keep UTC within one second of time measured against Earth’s rotation. They have added 27 leap seconds since the first adjustment in 1972. Earth’s irregular rotation creates the difference between the two measures, and its rotation has recently accelerated slightly. Dimarcq said that change raised the possibility of removing a second for the first time. UTC provides a reference for systems including GPS, telecommunications and financial markets.

The new approach would use a much less frequent correction, described as a leap hour. Setnam Shemar of the National Physical Laboratory in Teddington said previous leap seconds had crashed websites and disrupted airline booking systems. Timekeeping experts also identified potential risks to mobile phone networks and electricity grids when systems introduce leap seconds. Emily Akkermans, curator of time at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, said the growing difference between clock time and astronomical time would eventually feel “like living on daylight saving time”.