Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site petrus.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!lll-crg!dual!qantel!ihnp4!mhuxn!mhuxr!ulysses!gamma!epsilon!zeta!sabre!bellcore!petrus!karn From: karn@petrus.UUCP (Phil R. Karn) Newsgroups: net.space Subject: Re: Leap seconds Message-ID: <462@petrus.UUCP> Date: Sat, 10-Aug-85 17:34:34 EDT Article-I.D.: petrus.462 Posted: Sat Aug 10 17:34:34 1985 Date-Received: Sat, 17-Aug-85 06:16:45 EDT References: <2884@mordor.UUCP> <287@ubvax.UUCP> Organization: Bell Communications Research, Inc Lines: 8 It is true that the earth exhibits fluctuations in its rotation phase due to, among other things, seasonal atmospheric mass shifts, etc. However, I think leap seconds are needed mainly because the standard atomic second was defined to be a little too short compared to the second based on the average rotation rate of the earth. That's why we almost always seem to have extra leap (60th) seconds in UTC instead of missing 59th seconds. Phil