After many years of adding a few seconds to clocks to keep up with the Earth's rotation, it seems the world is about to abandon this practice.
The world is moving towards abolishing the "leap second" once and for all, as the General Conference on Weights and Measures will meet from October 13 to 15, 2026 to consider a resolution to make Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) a continuous and regular measure starting from May 20, 2027.
This historic amendment aims to end the sudden jumps in timing that have long caused confusion in high-precision computer systems and digital operating networks.
Since 1972, 27 leap seconds have been added (the last one at the end of 2016) to address the discrepancy caused by the gradual slowing of the Earth's rotation compared to the accuracy of atomic clocks. However, the noticeable acceleration of the Earth's rotation since 2015 has created concerns about the need to impose a "negative leap second" (deleting a second), a procedure that software systems have not previously tested and which could lead to widespread technical malfunctions.
The anticipated decision stipulates increasing the maximum permissible discrepancy between atomic time and the Earth's actual rotation to 3600 seconds (a full hour) , which means moving in the future to a "leap clock" system that the planet will not need for centuries to come.
The general public will not notice this change in their daily lives, but it will provide complete stability to vital navigation and communication software that always assumes that a day consists of 86,400 seconds, no more and no less.
Astronomers, navigators, and geodesists will have to manually calculate the increasing difference between atomic and civil time in their precise observations, much like accounting for magnetic declination when using a compass.
This decision will not affect the "leap year" (adding a day to February every 4 years), given its crucial importance in maintaining regular alignment between the four seasons and the civil calendar of humans.
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