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[TECHNOLOGY] · France · 21 sources

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CGPM plans to abolish leap seconds to stabilize global timekeeping

The General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) is planning to abolish the leap second to ensure greater stability in global timekeeping. A final decision is expected to be confirmed on October 15 in Versailles, France.

Currently, leap seconds are used to reconcile the difference between Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), which is based on highly stable atomic clocks, and Universal Time (UT1), which is based on the Earth's rotation. Because the Earth's rotation speed fluctuates, leap seconds have been added or subtracted 27 times since 1972 to keep the two scales within a 0.9-second margin.

Removing leap seconds aims to protect critical digital infrastructure, such as telecommunications, energy supplies, and transportation systems, from the technical disruptions and errors that sudden one-second adjustments can cause in computer systems. Recent observations of accelerated Earth rotation have even raised the possibility of a negative leap second, a scenario that researchers warn poses unprecedented risks to digital stability.

Entities

Coordinated Universal Time · General Conference on Weights and Measures · International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service · National Institute of Standards and Technology · Versailles

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Sources

Der Schaltsekunde steht das Aus bevor [www.waltroper-zeitung.de]
Der Schaltsekunde steht das Aus bevor [www.dorstenerzeitung.de]