Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

CTOnews.com, Nov. 20 (Xinhua)-- Leap seconds, which have been used to synchronize atomic clocks with Earth's rotation for half a century, are being phased out, a boon for tech giants.

At the 27th International Congress on Metrology, which ended in Paris, France, participants adopted a resolution to stop introducing leap seconds no later than 2035 at the latest. Referring to the reasons for this move, the International Bureau of Metrology said: "the introduction of leap seconds would cause discontinuity and could lead to serious failures of critical digital infrastructure, including satellite navigation systems, telecommunications and energy transmission."

There are two commonly used time measurement systems in the world to determine time: universal time based on Earth rotation (UT) and International Atomic time based on Atomic Oscillation period (TAI), Xinhua reported. Because the two measurement methods are different, the results of the two timing systems will be different over time, so there is the concept of coordinated Universal time (UTC).

Coordinated Universal time is based on the international atomic time in seconds and is as close as possible to Universal time in time. The International Metrology Conference in 1972 decided that when the difference between the international atomic time and the world time reaches 0.9 seconds, the coordinated Universal time will be increased or decreased by one second in order to be as close to the world as possible. This amendment is called leap second.

The leap second is actually an artificial increase or decrease in international atomic time in order to adapt to the pace of the earth's rotation. According to the International Earth rotation Service's monitoring data of international atomic time and universal time, when the difference between the two reaches 0.9 seconds, the agency issues an announcement to the world at the last minute of the last day of the next June or December. Implement positive or negative leap seconds.

Since the official use of coordinated Universal time in 1972, 27 positive leap second adjustments have been implemented around the world, the most recent being December 31 GMT, 2016. Since the official use of coordinated Universal time, the Earth's rotation has been in a slowing trend, so so far the leap seconds have been positive leap seconds, but relevant scientific research has found that the Earth's rotation rate has accelerated since mid-2020. this means that there may also be negative leap seconds in the future, which means that leap seconds must be eliminated.

Because there is no fixed pattern for the occurrence of leap seconds, the corresponding time adjustment cannot be written in computer programs from the beginning, and many technology companies have previously called for the elimination of leap seconds. "(leap seconds) is a risky practice that does more harm than good, and we think it's time to introduce new technology to replace it," two engineers from Facebook's parent company, Meta, wrote on the company's Weibo in July. Technology companies such as Google, Microsoft and Amazon agree.

When leap seconds were implemented in 2012, it caused a massive failure of Reddit, as well as issues related to Mozilla, LinkedIn, Yelp and the airline reservation service Amadeus. In 2017, a leap-second failure at Cloudflare took some of the network infrastructure company's clients' servers offline. When comparing the two clocks, Cloudflare's software calculates that time has gone backwards, but cannot handle the result correctly.

CTOnews.com learned that although leap seconds will no longer be routinely added when Earth time is inconsistent with coordinated Universal time, the absence of leap seconds means that the time people use has nothing to do with the rotation of the earth or the position of the sun, and that time and astronomy are separated. The International Bureau of Metrology's vote leaves room for adjustment, and they propose a policy to adjust the clock at a time interval that is not yet clear. It is reported that the 2023 World Radio Conference will further discuss the future of leap seconds.

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