As the Earth warms, the ice near the poles is melting. And that contributes to a slower rotation of the Earth, which means that it does not seem necessary to introduce a negative leap second in the coming years – for the very first time. This is what researchers write in the journa. It is only a postponement of execution; because around 2029, the negative leap second really seems to have to be introduced. But due to climate change, we do have a bit more time to prepare for this – rather drastic – introduction.
We all know leap day. Less well-known, however, is the leap second, where a minute lasts 61 seconds instead of 60 seconds. The leap second was first used in 1972. And in the years and decades that followed, it was regularly used again.
Atomic Clocks and the Earth’s Rotation
And there was a good reason for this: the leap second was necessary to prevent time measurements made by atomic clocks from getting too far out of step with time measurements based on the Earth’s rotation.
Today, the passage of time is measured using atomic clocks. These clocks use vibrations in atoms to measure time. Because a second is 2024 fresh whatsapp number list defined by atomic clocks as x number of vibrations in an atom and that number of vibrations is constant and not influenced by the environment, all atomic clocks worldwide always run at the same time and they all indicate the ‘real time’.
How does that work exactly?
But the global society uses the a complete list of unit phone numbers Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). And that is only partly based on time measurements by atomic clocks. Part of it also looks at the rotation speed of the earth. There is just one problem: the earth is – unlike those atomic clocks – not a Swiss watch (see box).
