The Day Time Stopped Waiting for Earth
The Day Time Stopped Waiting for Earth How the BIPM ended a 50-year compromise between atomic precision and planetary reality On October 16, 2026, the General Conference on Weights and Measures made a decision that will outlast every government on Earth: they stopped waiting for the planet to catch up. By 2035, Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) will no longer be adjusted to match Earth's rotation.…
On October 16, 2026, the General Conference on Weights and Measures made a groundbreaking decision: they ended the practice of adjusting Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) to account for Earth's irregular rotation. This means atomic clocks will no longer be stopped to compensate for the planet's wobbly spin. By 2035, UTC will drift away from Earth's solar time, with the two times differing by up to a half-second.
The move was prompted by the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS) noticing that Earth's rotation has been speeding up recently. While the long-term trend is slowing due to tidal friction from the Moon, shorter-term variations have become large enough that the probability of needing a negative leap second (a second that doesn't exist) reaches 30% by 2035.
This could cause massive disruptions in computer systems that assume time moves forward. The decision means that from 2035 onwards, atomic time will take precedence over Earth's rotation, with users who still need solar time receiving the necessary information from GNSS signals and IERS services.
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