Not just another second of time…

If you were under the impression that the Earth’s rotation serves as the basis for measuring hours, minutes and seconds, you are in for a rude shock. There are, however, other complications… The mean solar day – the average length of a day based on how long it takes the Earth to rotate – hasn’t been 86,400 since the 1820s. Leap seconds are added either on June 30 or on December 31, once the decision has been made by the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service. There have been proposals to shun the leap second altogether, with possible solutions, including corrections when the drift is further apart – like a leap minute or even a leap hour! It looks like the ITU has bought itself more time in order to gather more information on the potential impacts of doing away with a single leap second.