[LEAPSECS] the big artillery

[michael.deckers]

    On 2014-10-30 23:57, Clive D.W. Feather wrote:

>  The problem is that some people use UTC to mean "TAI plus adjustments to
>  keep it less than a second from UT1" while other people use UTC to mean
>  "the basis of legal time here". For the second set, using a new name for a
>  different concept doesn't help.

    Yes. After leap seconds have been discontinued in (say) 2020, we will
    certainly need a short name for the time scale disseminated via
    radio broadcasts and NTP, and that has served as the basis for civil
    time, both before and after 2020. "UTC" comes to mind.

    We may also need a short name for TAI with leap seconds, especially
    if this is still used after 2020 and disseminated via new channels.
    Such as "UTL" for TAI with leaps.

    I believe that the naming issue can be solved easily once it is
    clear which time scales have to be distinguished and to be named.

    Michael Deckers.