Slight tweaks were suggested offline ...
The International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS)
has determined that a positive Leap Second shall be introduced in the
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) timescale at the end of the day on
2016-December-31. The positive Leap Second will be inserted immediately
following the second labeled 23:59:59 and it will be labeled 23:59:60.
Most world clocks will introduce this positive Leap Second on their
local timescales simultaneously with its occurrence in UTC. The U.S.
Naval Observatory's Master Clock Facility in Washington, DC will insert
this positive Leap Second in the Eastern Standard Time (UTC-05:00)
timescale on 2016-December-31 immediately following the second labeled
06:59:59 pm (18:59:59) and it will be labeled 06:59:60 pm (18:59:60).
-Brooks
On 2016-07-11 09:45 AM, Brooks Harris wrote:
"WASHINGTON, DC -- On December 31, 2016, a "leap second" will be added
to the world's
clocks at 23 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds Coordinated Universal
Time (UTC). This
corresponds to 6:59:59 pm Eastern Standard Time, when the extra second
will be inserted at the
U.S. Naval Observatory's Master Clock Facility in Washington, DC. "
It seems to me not exactly wrong, but misleading in several respects:
1) Its a *positive* Leap Second
2) "introduced" or "inserted" rather than "added" are better terms
consistent with ITU-R 460.
3) The Leap Second is not, typically, "added to the worlds clocks" in
the same way its introduced to UTC. If "world clocks" means "local
time" the Leap Second will typically be introduced on the local
timescales simultaneous with its occurrence on UTC.
4) "added .. at 23 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds" might be
misinterpreted to mean *before*, or somehow together with, 23:59:59.
"Inserted following" might be more clear.
5) there's no mention of what happens in the other USA time zones.
Its always a challenge to write about UTC in a way that's both clear
and readable. Here's my go:
The International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS)
has determined a positive Leap Second shall be introduced in the
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) timescale at the end of the day on
2016-December-31. The positive Leap Second will be inserted
immediately following the second labeled 23:59:59 and labeled
23:59:60. Most world clocks will introduce this positive Leap Second
on their local timescales simultaneous with its occurrence in UTC. The
U.S. Naval Observatory's Master Clock Facility in Washington, DC will
insert this positive Leap Second to the Eastern Standard Time
(UTC-05:00) timescale on 2016-December-31 immediately following the
second labeled 06:59:59 pm (18:59:59) and will be labeled 06:59:60 pm
(18:59:60).
-Brooks
On 2016-07-10 11:26 PM, Jonathan E. Hardis wrote:
I don't disagree with your interpretation of UTC, but there's no
error in the announcement. The leap second is */added/* */at
/*23:59:59. While the leap second itself is 23:59:60, it's during
the interval 23:59:59 when the logic is changed for what the next
second should be labelled.
- Jonathan
On Jul 10, 2016, at 3:39 PM, Paul Hirose <cfuhb-ac...@earthlink.net
<mailto:cfuhb-ac...@earthlink.net>> wrote:
On 2016-07-08 12:16, I wrote:
Is there a mistake in this announcement?
http://www.usno.navy.mil/USNO/tours-events/2016_Leap_Second%20Press%20Release%20-%20Final.pdf
WASHINGTON, DC -- On December 31, 2016, a "leap second" will be
added to
the world's clocks at 23 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds Coordinated
Universal Time (UTC).
The mistake is in the first sentence. Nothing unusual happens at
23:59:59. One second later, at 23:59:60, the leap second begins. In
other words, UTC will do this:
23:59:59.9
23:59:60.0
23:59:60.1
...
23:59:60.9
00:00:00.0
I have informed the author of the press release.
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