Leapsecondhallinta

Leapsecondhallinta refers to the management of leap seconds within timekeeping systems. A leap second is a deliberate one-second adjustment made to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) to keep it closely synchronized with astronomical time, specifically Universal Time 1 (UT1). UT1 is based on the Earth's rotation, which is not perfectly uniform and gradually slows down. UTC, on the other hand, is based on highly stable atomic clocks. The discrepancy between UTC and UT1 can grow over time, and leap seconds are introduced to prevent this divergence from exceeding 0.9 seconds.

The International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS) is responsible for determining when leap seconds are needed and announcing them. These announcements are typically made several months in advance. Leap seconds are usually added at the end of June 30 or December 31. Implementing leap seconds can pose challenges for computer systems and networks, as it requires software and hardware to handle an irregular second. Some systems may experience temporary disruptions or synchronization issues during a leap second insertion. Due to these complexities, there have been ongoing discussions and proposals to abolish leap seconds in favor of a more continuous timekeeping system.