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Transcript/ScriptClimate Change Timekeeping TVR))
HEADLINE: Add timekeeping to the list of climate victims: study
TEASER: Global warming melts polar ice, impacts earth’s rotation and possibly
timekeeping: study
PUBLISHED AT: 4/29/24, 1:00 pm
BYLINE: Veronica Balderas Iglesias
CONTRIBUTOR:
DATELINE: Washinton
VIDEOGRAPHER: Veronica Balderas Iglesias
VIDEO EDITOR: Veronica Balderas Iglesias
SCRIPT EDITORS: sb, MAS
VIDEO SOURCE (S): Agencies, Skype, see script for others
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV _X_ RADIO __
TRT: 3:09
VID APPROVED BY: sb
TYPE: TVR
EDITOR NOTES: ((Radio Tracks for Reversioning Included. Agencies’ logos that look
lighter or different were burnt by the source.)) for production/release Monday 4/29
((TV INTRO))
[[Not only is climate change responsible for sea level rise and extreme weather events,
but a new peer-reviewed study signals it may also impact global timekeeping. VOA’s
Veronica Balderas Iglesias has the details.]]
((VIDEO: VOA))
((NARRATOR))
Precise timekeeping in this day and age is achieved by the use of about 400 atomic
clocks around the world.
((VIDEO: AP))
The so-called Coordinated Universal Time, or UTC, is a complex calculation
((VIDEO: Screen recording))
((Mandatory cg: @TheBIPM /YouTube logo))
made by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures
((VIDEO: Storyblocks))
and is maintained in line with the earth's rotation, which tends to vary.
[[RADIO INTRO: Patrizia Tavella is the organization’s time department director. She
spoke to VOA via Skype.]]
((NARRATOR))
((Patrizia Tavella, International Bureau of Weights and Measures)) - ((Skype))
“It was decided in the 70s that we do not allow a difference between the atomic time
and earth’s rotation larger than one second. // We add a leap second when we see that
the offset is close to one second.”
((VIDEO: REUTERS))
((NARRATOR))
Timekeepers have added leap seconds to UTC 27 times since 1972.
((VIDEO: AP))
But for a few years now there's been speculation that subtracting a second could be
also needed. That is called a negative leap second.
((VIDEO: AP))
In a world that runs on clocks, these changes can cause disruptions.
[[RADIO INTRO: Retired US Naval Observatory Chief Scientist for Time Services
Demetrios Matsakis, via Skype.]]
((Demetrios Matsakis, Retired US Naval Observatory Scientist)) - ((Skype))
“Sometimes those disruptions have been pretty bad, as in grounding airplanes, because
the computers sensed something was wrong and they stopped functioning. // And we
don't know that kind of problem, whether it will get worse when we do a negative leap
second.”
((VOA GRAPHIC))
((NARRATOR))
But new research in the journal “Nature” says climate change may have delayed the
need for a negative leap second.
((Radio: Author Duncan Agnew at the University of California, San Diego, via Skype.))
((Duncan Agnew, University of California, San Diego)) - ((Skype))
“It’s gotten warmer in the Arctic, and so there’s been a great deal of melting of ice that
goes out into the ocean and spreads out all over the world. // What the global warming
effect has done is to slow the earth more than it would otherwise have slowed.”
((Storyblocks))
((NARRATOR))
Agnew says, think of a spinning figure skater with her arms over her head. That’s the
Earth with ice in the Arctic. When she brings them down to make a T, she slows down.
That’s what happens when the ice melts and flows around the world’s oceans.
((VIDEO: AP))
The slowdown means that if a negative leap second is needed, the earliest possible
date moves back from 2026 to around 2029.
((VIDEO: VOA))
That seemingly positive effect, however,
((VIDEO: Animation global warming))
((Mandatory cg: NASA))
pales in comparison to the negative effects of climate change,
((VIDEO: AP))
including sea level rise, Agnew noted. Yale University geophysicist Jeffrey Park agrees.
[[RADIO: He spoke to VOA via Skype.]]
((Jeffrey Park, Yale University)) - ((Skype))
“This is a proof that actually the processes of global warming by melting the polar ice
sheets are actually influencing this very fundamental feature of our planet: its rotation.
The changes are very small, but they are measurable.”
((VIDEO: Stand up close at U.S. Naval Observatory)) -((Non stand up version see
video sources below))
((Veronica Balderas Iglesias, VOA News))
((VIDEO Non-stand up version: VOA))
((NARRATOR))
Given the disruptions, global time authorities voted to put leap seconds on hold from
2035. Discussions on how to reconcile UTC
((VIDEO: Storyblocks))
with the Earth’s rotation are expected to be held at the next general conference in 2026.
((Veronica Balderas Iglesias, VOA News, Washington.))
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
Subtitles / Dubbing AvailableNo
NetworkVOA
Embargo DateApril 29, 2024 14:07 EDT
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English, Radio Evropa e Lirë
