[LEAPSECS] Metrologia on time

Steve Allen sla at ucolick.org
Mon Aug 1 19:12:31 EDT 2011


The most recent issue of Metrologia has appeared, entirely on time.
http://iopscience.iop.org/0026-1394/48/4

The viewpoints of most of the agencies involved with time are
expressed in the various articles. This seems to be seminal for
upcoming discussions at the Royal Society.

In the first article Quinn ends with this paragraph

While I well understand the historical reasons for the ITU having
responsibility for the definition of UTC, I suggest that this is now
an anomaly and the time has come for it to be transferred to the
organization of the Metre Convention. It would be more appropriate
for the CGPM, the body under the Metre Convention responsible for
defining the SI second and the establishment of TAI and UTC and
under which the expertise on units of time and time scales now
resides, also to be responsible for defining UTC.

Many of the ITU-R recommendations regarding time have recently been
suppressed as part of the ongoing turf boundary clarifications.
If this ends up on the agenda for the CIPM and CGPM meetings this year
then the whole authority structure for precise time scales is going to
be rewritten.

"Curiouser and curiouser!" cried Alice (she was so much surprised,
that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English)

--
Steve Allen <sla at ucolick.org> WGS-84 (GPS)
UCO/Lick Observatory--ISB Natural Sciences II, Room 165 Lat +36.99855
1156 High Street Voice: +1 831 459 3046 Lng -122.06015
Santa Cruz, CA 95064 http://www.ucolick.org/~sla/ Hgt +250 m


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