Leap Second - Insertion of Leap Seconds

Insertion of Leap Seconds

Announced leap seconds to date
Year Jun 30 Dec 31
1972 +1 +1
1973 0 +1
1974 0 +1
1975 0 +1
1976 0 +1
1977 0 +1
1978 0 +1
1979 0 +1
1980 0 0
1981 +1 0
1982 +1 0
1983 +1 0
1984 0 0
1985 +1 0
1986 0 0
1987 0 +1
1988 0 0
1989 0 +1
1990 0 +1
1991 0 0
1992 +1 0
1993 +1 0
1994 +1 0
1995 0 +1
1996 0 0
1997 +1 0
1998 0 +1
1999 0 0
2000 0 0
2001 0 0
2002 0 0
2003 0 0
2004 0 0
2005 0 +1
2006 0 0
2007 0 0
2008 0 +1
2009 0 0
2010 0 0
2011 0 0
2012 +1 0
Year Jun 30 Dec 31
Total 10 15
25
Current TAI − UTC
35

The scheduling of leap seconds was initially delegated to the Bureau International de l'Heure (BIH), but passed to the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS) on January 1, 1988. IERS usually decides to apply a leap second whenever the difference between UTC and UT1 approaches 0.6 s, in order to keep the difference between UTC and UT1 from exceeding 0.9 s.

The UTC standard allows leap seconds to be applied at the end of any UTC month, but as of July 2012 all of them have been inserted either at the end of June 30 or December 31. IERS publishes announcements every six months, whether leap seconds are to occur or not, in its "Bulletin C". Such announcements are typically published well in advance of each possible leap second date — usually in early January for June 30 and in early July for December 31. Some time signal broadcasts give voice announcements of an impending leap second.

Between 1972 and 2012 a leap second has been inserted about every 18 months, on the average. However, the spacing is quite irregular: there were no leap seconds in the seven-year interval between January 1, 1999 and December 31, 2005, but there were 9 leap seconds in the 8 years 1972–1979.

Unlike leap days, UTC leap seconds occur simultaneously worldwide; for example, the leap second on December 31, 2005 23:59:60 UTC was December 31, 2005 18:59:60 (6:59:60 p.m.) in U.S. Eastern Standard Time and January 1, 2006 08:59:60 (a.m.) in Japan Standard Time.

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