Will there be a leap second any time soon?

The global and uniform basis for the determination of time is disseminated by the International Bureau for Weights and Measures in Paris as UTC (Universal Time Coordinated). It is realized with the assistance of fifty time institutes, among these also the Time and Frequency Department of PTB. Since our everyday life – despite atomic clocks – now as ever follows the position of the sun, the atomic time scale (realized by atomic clocks) is occasionally adjusted with leap seconds to the Earth's rotation which is not uniform in time. The atomic second is on an average somewhat shorter than the calculated second of the mean solar day. Since 1.1.1958, a time difference of 33 seconds has accumulated up to now: The clock designated as TAI (Temps Atomique International) is, in comparison to the clock designated as UTC, 33 seconds faster. Central European Time is thus UTC + 1 hour, Central European Summer Time + 2 hours.

Since the beginning of July 2008 it is known that there will be a leap second introduced at the turn of the year 2008/2009. So we will get a chance to celebrate somewhat longer.