Negative Leap Second Could Break the Internet

Because days are inexplicably becoming longer, we might need the unprecedented negative leap second, but it could break the internet.

Photo by Eugene Chystiakov on Unsplash

Keeping our calendars in sync with the Earth has always been problematic. Any system we create, inevitably needs to be periodically adjusted to lineup with reality. The old Julian calendar needed an extra month added when Roman priests thought necessary. The Gregorian calendar, which is used today by most of the world, needs a day added every four years, though 3 of these leap days are omitted every 400 year leap cycle. The Islamic calendar depends on the lunar cycle and is tweaked as needed. Virtually all cultures have devised systems to ensure their calendars line up with the seasons, more specifically the equinoxes.

But as technology advanced and precision became more important, we realized we needed a leap second too. The day is almost never exactly 86,400 seconds. Due to tidal friction with the Moon’s gravitational pull, geological events that shift the Earth’s mass distribution like melting ice caps or earthquakes, and the planet’s natural cycles like Milankovitch cycles or precession, days are rarely the same length. Because of this, the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service decides to add a…