leapseconds revision 181424
1250323Sdteske# @(#)leapseconds	8.6
2250323Sdteske
3250323Sdteske# Allowance for leapseconds added to each timezone file.
4250323Sdteske
5250323Sdteske# The International Earth Rotation Service periodically uses leap seconds
6250323Sdteske# to keep UTC to within 0.9 s of UT1
7250323Sdteske# (which measures the true angular orientation of the earth in space); see
8250323Sdteske# Terry J Quinn, The BIPM and the accurate measure of time,
9250323Sdteske# Proc IEEE 79, 7 (July 1991), 894-905.
10250323Sdteske# There were no leap seconds before 1972, because the official mechanism
11250323Sdteske# accounting for the discrepancy between atomic time and the earth's rotation
12250323Sdteske# did not exist until the early 1970s.
13250323Sdteske
14250323Sdteske# The correction (+ or -) is made at the given time, so lines
15250323Sdteske# will typically look like:
16250323Sdteske#	Leap	YEAR	MON	DAY	23:59:60	+	R/S
17250323Sdteske# or
18250323Sdteske#	Leap	YEAR	MON	DAY	23:59:59	-	R/S
19250323Sdteske
20250323Sdteske# If the leapsecond is Rolling (R) the given time is local time
21250323Sdteske# If the leapsecond is Stationary (S) the given time is UTC
22250323Sdteske
23250323Sdteske# Leap	YEAR	MONTH	DAY	HH:MM:SS	CORR	R/S
24250323SdteskeLeap	1972	Jun	30	23:59:60	+	S
25250323SdteskeLeap	1972	Dec	31	23:59:60	+	S
26250323SdteskeLeap	1973	Dec	31	23:59:60	+	S
27250323SdteskeLeap	1974	Dec	31	23:59:60	+	S
28250323SdteskeLeap	1975	Dec	31	23:59:60	+	S
29250323SdteskeLeap	1976	Dec	31	23:59:60	+	S
30250323SdteskeLeap	1977	Dec	31	23:59:60	+	S
31250323SdteskeLeap	1978	Dec	31	23:59:60	+	S
32250323SdteskeLeap	1979	Dec	31	23:59:60	+	S
33250323SdteskeLeap	1981	Jun	30	23:59:60	+	S
34250323SdteskeLeap	1982	Jun	30	23:59:60	+	S
35250323SdteskeLeap	1983	Jun	30	23:59:60	+	S
36250323SdteskeLeap	1985	Jun	30	23:59:60	+	S
37250323SdteskeLeap	1987	Dec	31	23:59:60	+	S
38250323SdteskeLeap	1989	Dec	31	23:59:60	+	S
39250323SdteskeLeap	1990	Dec	31	23:59:60	+	S
40250323SdteskeLeap	1992	Jun	30	23:59:60	+	S
41250323SdteskeLeap	1993	Jun	30	23:59:60	+	S
42250323SdteskeLeap	1994	Jun	30	23:59:60	+	S
43250323SdteskeLeap	1995	Dec	31	23:59:60	+	S
44250323SdteskeLeap	1997	Jun	30	23:59:60	+	S
45250323SdteskeLeap	1998	Dec	31	23:59:60	+	S
46250323SdteskeLeap	2005	Dec	31	23:59:60	+	S
47250323SdteskeLeap	2008	Dec	31	23:59:60	+	S
48250323Sdteske
49250323Sdteske# INTERNATIONAL EARTH ROTATION AND REFERENCE SYSTEMS SERVICE (IERS)
50250323Sdteske#
51250323Sdteske# SERVICE INTERNATIONAL DE LA ROTATION TERRESTRE ET DES SYSTEMES DE REFERENCE
52250323Sdteske#
53250323Sdteske# SERVICE DE LA ROTATION TERRESTRE
54250323Sdteske# OBSERVATOIRE DE PARIS
55250323Sdteske# 61, Av. de l'Observatoire 75014 PARIS (France)
56250323Sdteske# Tel.      : 33 (0) 1 40 51 22 26
57250323Sdteske# FAX       : 33 (0) 1 40 51 22 91
58250323Sdteske# e-mail    : services.iers@obspm.fr
59250323Sdteske# http://hpiers.obspm.fr/eop-pc
60250323Sdteske#
61250323Sdteske# Paris, 4 July 2008
62250323Sdteske#
63250323Sdteske# Bulletin C 36
64250323Sdteske#
65250323Sdteske# To authorities responsible
66250323Sdteske# for the measurement and
67250323Sdteske# distribution of time
68250323Sdteske#
69250323Sdteske# UTC TIME STEP
70250323Sdteske# on the 1st of January 2009
71250323Sdteske#
72250323Sdteske# A positive leap second will be introduced at the end of December 2008.
73251276Sdteske# The sequence of dates of the UTC second markers will be:		
74250323Sdteske#
75250323Sdteske# 2008 December 31,     23h 59m 59s
76250323Sdteske# 2008 December 31,     23h 59m 60s
77250323Sdteske# 2009 January   1,      0h  0m  0s
78250323Sdteske#
79250323Sdteske# The difference between UTC and the International Atomic Time TAI is:
80251276Sdteske#
81250323Sdteske# from 2006 January 1, 0h UTC, to 2009 January 1  0h UTC  : UTC-TAI = - 33s
82250323Sdteske# from 2009 January 1, 0h UTC, until further notice       : UTC-TAI = - 34s
83250323Sdteske#
84250323Sdteske# Leap seconds can be introduced in UTC at the end of the months of December
85250323Sdteske# or June, depending on the evolution of UT1-TAI. Bulletin C is mailed every
86250323Sdteske# six months, either to announce a time step in UTC or to confirm that there
87250323Sdteske# will be no time step at the next possible date.
88250323Sdteske#
89250323Sdteske# Daniel GAMBIS
90250323Sdteske# Head		
91250323Sdteske# Earth Orientation Center of IERS
92250323Sdteske# Observatoire de Paris, France
93250323Sdteske