# How do they tell time at the poles? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 12, 2002, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-tell-time-at-the-poles/113714 "2002-06-12T20:42:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Zamboni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@The\_Great\_Zamboni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Zamboni)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-tell-time-at-the-poles/113714/1 "2002-06-12T20:42:38Z")
I presume all the time time zones converge at the poles, so conventional methods wouldn’t work. How is it done? ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-tell-time-at-the-poles/113714/2 "2002-06-12T20:46:51Z")
The pole is a single spot. It’s not an area that would need a separate time zone, surely? ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-tell-time-at-the-poles/113714/3 "2002-06-12T20:48:54Z")
Apologies. That didn’t actually answer your question. ---
**Author:** ![BZ00000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/47e85d/32.png) [@BZ00000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BZ00000)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-tell-time-at-the-poles/113714/4 "2002-06-12T20:49:25Z")
Pure guess, but I would think that at a certain point at the poles time zones would be pretty meaningless and it would be best to use GMT. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-tell-time-at-the-poles/113714/5 "2002-06-12T20:50:19Z")
Just a WAG, but I assumed they would do what they do in space, or anywhere people find themselves in a place where the usual diurnal cycle is absent: just pick an appropriate time zone and set their watches to it. GMT, perhaps, or maybe the time zone most applicable to whoever you’re communicating with back home. ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-tell-time-at-the-poles/113714/6 "2002-06-12T20:58:30Z")
Half the answer: [http://www.mindspring.com/~gwil/taq.html](http://www.mindspring.com/~gwil/taq.html) ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-tell-time-at-the-poles/113714/7 "2002-06-12T21:01:07Z")
Well, doesn’t Santa’s workshop a clock tower? ---
**Author:** ![erislover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71e660/32.png) [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-tell-time-at-the-poles/113714/8 "2002-06-12T21:08:21Z")
Some day we will forget all stupid time zones, Daylight Savings, and the international date line, and just pick one time zone and stick to it all over the world. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-tell-time-at-the-poles/113714/9 "2002-06-12T21:16:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by erislover \* > \*\*Some day we will forget all stupid time zones, Daylight Savings, and the international date line, and just pick one time zone and stick to it all over the world. \*\* I’m pretty sure by Star Trek days, when American English is the predominant lanugage in the galaxy, everyone also uses one of the Yankee time zones. ---
**Author:** ![MachV](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@MachV](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MachV)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-tell-time-at-the-poles/113714/10 "2002-06-12T21:33:55Z")
Except for the Southern states. We’ll have our own. Because, in case you haven’t been reading the bumper stickers on our trucks, the South will rise again! ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-tell-time-at-the-poles/113714/11 "2002-06-12T22:36:48Z")
## quote: ## Originally posted by erislover Some day we will forget all stupid time zones, Daylight Savings, and the international date line, and just pick one time zone and stick to it all over the world. Works for me. Why not just use “military” time everywhere? My computer is currently showing 17:33 PM (I realize the PM is redundant) and I have no problem with it. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-tell-time-at-the-poles/113714/12 "2002-06-12T23:01:05Z")
Has a certain amount of appeal to me, also - everybody just use UCT, and we accept that “business hours” or “daylight hours” depend on your physical location. For instance, stores might be open from 1:00 - 11:00 around here. Trouble is, we’d just have to decide on boundaries where government-run offices opened at 3:00 instead of 4:00, or TV prime time started at 12:00 instead of 13:00 and so on, and we’d be right back in the same old mess. The damn Sun just won’t cooperate and rise and set everywhere at the same time … we need to DO something about that … ---
**Author:** ![Belrix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed655f/32.png) [@Belrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belrix)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-tell-time-at-the-poles/113714/13 "2002-06-12T23:01:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MachV \* > \*\*the South will rise again! \*\* My common response to this statement, during my years in Dixie, was “and do what?” ---
**Author:** ![Caught\_Work](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/919ad9/32.png) [@Caught\_Work](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caught_Work)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-tell-time-at-the-poles/113714/14 "2002-06-12T23:32:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by yabob \* > \*\*\<\\> The damn Sun just won’t cooperate and rise and set everywhere at the same time … we need to DO something about that … \*\* Move underground, have completely aritifical lighting, reset everyone’s body clock to the same time period and you have a worldwide timezone that occurs regardless of the arbitrary position of the sun in the sky. Of course, that would mean that everyone on the planet would be accessing SDMB at the same times and there would not be a distribution of load as people fall asleep and then wake up at different times. That would stress the hamsters for 12 hours and then they could go to sleep for 12 hours and recover. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2002, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-tell-time-at-the-poles/113714/15 "2002-06-13T00:18:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Great Zamboni \* > \*\*I presume all the time time zones converge at the poles, so conventional methods wouldn’t work. How is it done? \*\* No one has given the obvious answer. My answer would be by looking at your watch. ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2002, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-tell-time-at-the-poles/113714/16 "2002-06-13T04:37:58Z")
I know that for practical purposes, Antarctic scientific bases all use GMT. For those around 180[sup]o[/sup], the sun rises in the PM, gets to its highest elevation near midnight, and sets in the AM. ---
**Author:** ![Mandarax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Mandarax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mandarax)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2002, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-tell-time-at-the-poles/113714/17 "2002-06-13T05:06:26Z")
According to [Times Around the World](http://times.clari.net.au/Antarctica.html), the Antarctic bases use different times. In fact, it says that the [Amundsen-Scott Station](http://times.clari.net.au/location.php3/Antarctica/South_Pole) at the pole uses GMT+1200. ---
**Author:** ![MachV](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@MachV](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MachV)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2002, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-tell-time-at-the-poles/113714/18 "2002-06-13T14:09:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Belrix \* > \*\*My common response to this statement, during my years in Dixie, was “and do what?” \*\* Ahh…that’s a good one! Gee, I’m not sure really. Let me run down to the local masonic lodge/huntin’ club & see if they have gotten that far in their planning. I’d hate fer us to rise up for no damn reason, heat & humidity being what it is and all… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Zamboni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@The\_Great\_Zamboni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Zamboni)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2002, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-tell-time-at-the-poles/113714/19 "2002-06-13T16:30:18Z")
GMT does makes sense to use. At each pole’s respective summer solstice the sun circles the horizen without setting, making time keeping useless. I can see how GMT is the only choice. > [@](#): > > I’m pretty sure by Star Trek days, when American English is the predominant lanugage in the galaxy, everyone also uses one of the Yankee time zones. You aren’t much of a trekkie. The starfleet badge/communicater is also a universal translater. They sound like they are speaking american, but they aren’t. It’s just their own language translated. But that’s for another thread. ---
**Author:** ![blinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@blinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blinx)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2002, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-tell-time-at-the-poles/113714/20 "2002-06-14T13:25:14Z")
Quite amazing how it also manages to syncronize the aliens lips to the translated voices 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-tell-time-at-the-poles/113714.md?page=2)