[fitsbits] Re: leap second alert

[Rob Seaman]

Note that there have been a number of leap second and other time related
discussions over the years in the Risks Digest.  You can search via:

    http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks/search.html

(An appropriate Glimpse search term would be "leap second,leap seconds".)

The most direct solution to the problem was suggested in Risks v17.87:

    "lucero" <lucero at optec.army.mil> 
    Fri, 08 Mar 96 19:26:32 EST 

    Although length of day is getting longer, it is 8 millionths of a
    second shorter than it would be due to the 10 trillion tons of
    water stored in reservoirs in the northern hemisphere over the last
    40 years [15 Dec 96 Geophysical Research Letters]. Because the
    water isn't stored symmetrically, it has pushed the earth's axis
    about 60 centimeters from the North Pole toward western Canada. The
    RISK certainly seems big. According to the author, reservoirs are
    the only human activity big enough to cause an appreciable change
    in these global phenomena.

    Like an ice skater pulling in their arms, we could get rid of those
    leap seconds from the earth slowing down if moved enough water away
    from the equator. Make programming those real time applications
    easier ;)

    Scott Lucero 

This has the benefit of transferring the responsibility (in the U.S.)
from the NIST to the Army Corps of Engineers ;-)  It would also make
the debate about draining Lake Powell a bit more lively...

Rob