At the International Conference on Weights and Measures (GCWM) in Paris, France, delegates voted to eliminate the “leap second” from 2035, Nature news reported on Nov. 18.
Since the Earth’s rotation rate changes, when Coordinated Universal Time (UTC, also known as International Atomic Time, currently based on the period of cesium atomic oscillations) differs from Universal Time (UT1, based on the Earth’s rotation) by more than 0.9 seconds, one second is added or subtracted to Coordinated Universal Time to correct it to be close to Universal Time.
Since the official use of Coordinated Universal Time in 1972, there have been 27 leap second adjustments worldwide.
For many systems with high requirements for time accuracy, such as aerospace, communications, and finance, a one-second error can be extremely costly, so a large number of stakeholders have called for the elimination of leap seconds.
According to this resolution, leap seconds will continue to be adjusted until 2035.
However, after 2035, the difference between Coordinated Universal Time and Universal Time will be able to grow to a value greater than 0.9 seconds.
The representatives of the parties will hold negotiations afterwards and will determine this value and its adjustment by 2035.
