The leap second may be eliminated due to the Earth's faster rotation
Scientists may abandon the leap second sooner than expected. The reason is that in recent years, the Earth has begun to rotate slightly faster. Due to the planet’s accelerating rotation, the need for time adjustments may change. In the future, the introduction of a leap hour may be considered instead of a leap second.
A solar day lasts 24 hours, which corresponds to one complete rotation of the Earth around its axis. To humans, this interval seems as accurate as possible, but high-precision equipment detects even the slightest physical deviations. Without constant adjustments, clocks in computer systems gradually become out of sync.
Since the 1970s, experts have addressed this problem by adding a leap second to synchronize atomic clocks with the planet’s rotation. On such days—usually June 30 or December 31—clocks would display the unusual time of 23:59:60. Since this mechanism was first introduced in 1972, scientists have added a leap second 27 times.
An Unexpected Increase in Our Planet’s Rotation Speed
Over the course of several billion years, the Earth’s rotation has generally slowed due to gravitational interaction with the Moon. However, internal processes within the planet cause fluctuations in its speed. Starting in 2015, the Earth unexpectedly accelerated its rotation.
All leap seconds prior to 2016 were positive, meaning that one second was simply added to the total time. Due to the planet’s accelerated rotation, it became necessary for the first time in history to introduce a negative leap second. This posed a significant problem for digital systems, as removing a second from software settings is much more difficult than adding one.
The Abolition of Leap Seconds and the Idea of a Leap Hour
The International Bureau of Weights and Measures will convene near Paris from October 13 to 15. Experts had previously planned to phase out the leap second entirely by 2035, but due to new data, this decision could be made as early as next month.
Eliminating leap seconds will not stop the discrepancy between the Earth’s rotation and atomic time. Scientists at *Scientific American* note that experts are considering an alternative proposal: the introduction of a “leap hour.”
Under this idea, scientists would wait until a discrepancy of 3,600 seconds accumulates, after which they would add an entire hour all at once. Given the pace of change, humanity won’t have to worry about such an adjustment for several more millennia. Currently, the International Bureau of Weights and Measures is paying special attention to time measurement, as a technological breakthrough in the development of optical atomic clocks has made it possible to achieve a level of accuracy that exceeds the capabilities of conventional atomic devices.
This was reported by IFLScience.
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