The International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) has decided to retire the leap second starting next year. This move aims to prevent potential disruptions to critical infrastructure, including energy, telecommunications, and space projects, which could be caused by the unpredictable nature of leap seconds.
The organization noted that a negative leap second has never been implemented before and could pose significant risks to systems that are not prepared for such adjustments. BIPM estimates that the cost of preparing for a negative leap second would be comparable to the efforts required to address the millennium bug.
Historically, the addition of leap seconds has caused technical issues for various platforms, such as the 2012 crash of Reddit. To ensure long-term continuity for Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) and maintain synchronization with International Atomic Time (TAI), the BIPM will replace the leap second with a leap hour system.
The BIPM stated that the new approach will keep UTC in sync with TAI for several centuries. The organization also noted that adjustments of one hour are already common practice globally due to existing time zone differences and the regular implementation of daylight-saving time.
