ATLANTA — You won’t even notice it — it will literally pass by in a second. But markets around the world are frantically trying to avoid a leap second that threatens to disrupt global trading on Tuesday. The extra second will take place at 8 p.m. ET on June 30 so that we can sync up our watches with the Earth’s slowing rotation. But the 61-second minute threatens to make computer systems go haywire, potentially screwing up complex trades that can take place in a split second.
The leap second just happens to coincide with the opening for many Asian markets. To circumvent the potential for disaster, several exchanges are ending trading early or opening late on Tuesday.
The Nasdaq plans to shut down at 7:48 p.m. ET on June 30. NYSE Arca Equities is going to end trading at 7:55 p.m. ICE is delaying the open of its commodity trading markets until 8:05 p.m. CME will hold all trades made between 7:55 p.m. and 8:05 p.m. Asian and Australian futures trading in operated by FIA are making provisions to slightly elongate each second over the course of a couple hours to compensate.
Though the exchanges believe that their systems are prepared for the leap second, the threat is real.
The software controlling large computing systems and much of the Web doesn’t play nicely with leap seconds. The previous leap second, which took place in 2012, brought down Reddit, Yelp, LinkedIn, FourSquare, Gawker and StumbleUpon, among other sites and apps. Qantas’ entire computer system went down for hours, forcing employees to check in passengers by hand.
The code for most large scale systems is based on Unix, software that traces its roots to 1970 — two years before leap seconds ever existed. Computers check in from time to time with the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service’s network to make sure that they are telling the time correctly (like wristwatches, they have to be “rewound” every now and then).
When leap seconds happen, IERS tells computers that the last minute of that day will have 61 seconds. That makes Unix-based software go haywire.
The good news is there’s a solution. Google developed what it calls one of its “coolest workarounds” after a 2005 leap second made some of its computer systems to stop accepting new commands.
To avoid the leap second issue, Google gradually adds a couple of milliseconds to its servers’ clocks throughout the day when a leap second is to occur — just enough to stave off disaster by the end of the day but not enough to trip any alarm bells when the adjustments are made.
Leap seconds are necessary because the length of a day and year is in constant flux. Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions have a tendency to slow down the Earth’s rotation, as do gravitational forces from the Moon and other celestial bodies.
“We discovered we keep better time than the Earth does,” tweeted astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson on Sunday. “As always, I celebrate my leap seconds with very tiny bottles of champagne.”
There have been 25 leap seconds since they were introduced in 1972. But some groups have been looking to get rid of leap seconds. At the next meeting of the standards-setting International Telecommunication Union in November, nations’ representatives will vote on abolishing the practice.
Leap second opponents say the benefits don’t outweigh the technological mishaps that they cause. Even if there were a leap second every year (there isn’t), the Earth would only be 16 minutes behind schedule in the year 3015.
