[LEAPSECS] Leap seconds decision deferred until 2015

[Tony Finch]

Warner Losh <imp at bsdimp.com> wrote:

>

> > The synodic day (or something very, very close) is used on Earth and

> > has naturally been used on Mars for rover operations.  In fact, the

> > amplitude of the equation of time on Mars is much greater than it is

> > on Earth due to the greater eccentricity of the Martian orbit.  This

> > emphasizes that it is indeed *mean* solar time on Mars that is used

> > for rational scheduling.

>

> This works only when mars is an isolated world.  If there were commerce

> between mars and earth, or other need to regularly communicate, then

> there would be demand for a uniform time scale for both, just like there

> was demand for a uniform time between cities that shared proximity 150

> years ago.



> And yet elapsed time would be universal for all these systems, to a very

> high order (ignoring the small relativistic effects).


How small are the relativistic effects?

Note that the rate of an atomic clock is different on Mars because of the
different gravitational potential, and the difference varies because of
the differing orbits of Earth and Mars.


> I think the ITU should decide today that eliminating leaps on a scale

> less than decades is unlikely to succeed and start looking for small

> steps to move in that direction today. Increasing the tolerances would

> allow for greater freedom in devising solutions to the real operational

> problems that we have today.


Can't this be done unilaterally by the IERS? Or does 460-6 specify the
announcement schedule?

Tony.
-- 
f.anthony.n.finch  <dot at dotat.at>  http://dotat.at/
Trafalgar: Northeast 5 or 6. Moderate or rough. Fair. Good.