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What Time Is It at the Poles?

SalixIncendium

अग्निविलोवनन्दः
Staff member
Premium Member
Lines of longitude (or meridians) measure distance around the Earth. They are also used to measure time, though they are sometimes manipulated around borders of countries.

Time varies around the Earth based on what lines of longitude they are between. All lines of longitude meet at both he North Pole and the South Pole? So what time is it at the poles?
 

VoidCat

Pronouns: he/him/they/them
I found this:
The rotation of the Earth means that time zones are dictated by the lines of longitude connecting the two poles. But at the poles themselves, all these lines converge, meaning that technically the poles are in all the time zones simultaneously.

In practice, polar explorers and scientists simply choose whatever time zone is most convenient. Those working at McMurdo Station (pictured) in Antarctica, for example, have chosen to use New Zealand local time.
From:
What time zones are used at the North Pole and South Pole? | BBC Science Focus Magazine
 

Stevicus

Veteran Member
Staff member
Premium Member
So what time is it at the poles?

upload_2022-11-6_6-29-21.png
 

exchemist

Veteran Member
I wasn't sure myself.

Time Has No Meaning at the North Pole

"At the North Pole, 24 time zones collide at a single point, rendering them meaningless. It's simultaneously all of Earth's time zones and none of them. There are no boundaries of any kind in this abyss, in part because there is no land and no people."
While time of day has no meaning, it is untrue to say time has no meaning.

And there are still the seasons of course, at the poles, dramatically so.
 

Shaul

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
It's Santa Claus time, of course.

But seriously, I would assume it is UTC.
 

Vinayaka

devotee
Premium Member
Lines of longitude (or meridians) measure distance around the Earth. They are also used to measure time, though they are sometimes manipulated around borders of countries.

Time varies around the Earth based on what lines of longitude they are between. All lines of longitude meet at both he North Pole and the South Pole? So what time is it at the poles?
Nobody in their right mind would live there anyway, so who cares? It would affect flights some, I think. Our flight from Seattle to Dubai went almost directly over the North Pole, so assume we switched from AM to PM within the space of an hour.
 

Polymath257

Think & Care
Staff member
Premium Member
In practice, people use whatever is convenient: usually determined by who they want to communicate with regularly.

Otherwise, Universal time, UTC, could be used or Julian days (which are common in astronomy). Both of those are continuous (no jumps for daylight savings). And, in fact, all local times are defined relative to UTC.
 

Shaul

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
At the solstice. But what about the equinox?.
At any time. If one pole is in daytime the other must be in night. At the precise moment of the equinox both poles experience exactly half daylight and half non-daylight, which is night. That is the half of an object at the pole at that moment would be facing the sun and half would be shaded from the sun by its other half. It is a boundary moment that is neither day nor night. Just as noon is not in the morning nor the afternoon and midnight is not in the evening nor morning.
 

Revoltingest

Pragmatic Libertarian
Premium Member
At any time. If one pole is in daytime the other must be in night.
The Sun isn't a point source of light.
Its enormous size means during the equinox,
both will experience daylight, albeit with Mr
Sun partially peeking up on the horizon.
 

RestlessSoul

Well-Known Member
At any time. If one pole is in daytime the other must be in night. At the precise moment of the equinox both poles experience exactly half daylight and half non-daylight, which is night. That is the half of an object at the pole at that moment would be facing the sun and half would be shaded from the sun by its other half. It is a boundary moment that is neither day nor night. Just as noon is not in the morning nor the afternoon and midnight is not in the evening nor morning.


Well at the equinox, the tilt of the earth is neither towards nor away from the earth, so there'd be no difference in terms of daylight and darkness. While day and night would be of equal length almost everywhere on earth, at either pole there'd be no division between light and dark, at least not one marked by the hours on a clock. Nor would one pole be in darkness while the other was lit, as would be the case on the solstice.

Presumably there'd be simultaneous sunrise and sunset for 24 hours at either pole during the equinox.
 

exchemist

Veteran Member
Well at the equinox, the tilt of the earth is neither towards nor away from the earth, so there'd be no difference in terms of daylight and darkness. While day and night would be of equal length almost everywhere on earth, at either pole there'd be no division between light and dark, at least not one marked by the hours on a clock. Nor would one pole be in darkness while the other was lit, as would be the case on the solstice.

Presumably there'd be simultaneous sunrise and sunset for 24 hours at either pole during the equinox.
Yes the sun will be be half-set at both poles and will make its way, in that state, round the horizon.
 
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