Tímasvæðum

Tímasvæðum is the Icelandic word for time zones. Time zones are regions that observe a uniform standard time for legal, commercial, and social purposes. They are established by calculating the time difference from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), which is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. The Earth is divided into 24 standard time zones, each theoretically spanning 15 degrees of longitude. However, political and geographical boundaries often cause these zones to deviate from straight lines.

Iceland observes UTC throughout the year, meaning it does not implement daylight saving time. This simplifies scheduling for businesses and individuals interacting with countries that do observe daylight saving. The concept of time zones was developed to mitigate the confusion caused by the differing solar times across various locations as travel and communication became more widespread. Before the widespread adoption of standardized time zones, local mean solar time was commonly used, leading to inconsistencies. The establishment of international time zones facilitated global coordination and significantly improved the efficiency of transportation and communication networks. The Greenwich Meridian (0 degrees longitude) was established as the prime meridian, and UTC is based on this meridian. Other time zones are then expressed as an offset from UTC, such as UTC+1 or UTC-5.