# Stupid question about time zones

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-question-about-time-zones/139665>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 30, 2002, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-question-about-time-zones/139665 "2002-11-30T20:10:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![High\_Deity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9a140/32.png) [@High\_Deity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/High_Deity)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2002, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-question-about-time-zones/139665/1 "2002-11-30T20:10:38Z")

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I can’t believe I am asking this. What time zone is the north/south pole in? Is there some political agreement that establishes a standard time up (and down) there?

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**Author:** ![UncleBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@UncleBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBill)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2002, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-question-about-time-zones/139665/2 "2002-11-30T20:22:27Z")

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My WAG would be GMT. Off to the search engines!

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**Author:** ![UncleBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@UncleBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBill)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2002, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-question-about-time-zones/139665/3 "2002-11-30T20:39:18Z")

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[Oops.](http://geography.miningco.com/library/faq/blqztimeatpoles.htm) My guess was off. The researchers take the time from the nearest research station. South Pole is commonly New Zealand, since that South Pole station is associated with another one near NZ.

This [site](http://www.cmdl.noaa.gov/obop/spo/) says South Pole is GMT +12.

[This one](http://times.clari.net.au/location.php3/Antarctica/South_Pole) says South Pole time is GMT +1300.

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**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2002, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-question-about-time-zones/139665/4 "2002-11-30T22:32:47Z")

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Search this forum, that was a recent thread.

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**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2002, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-question-about-time-zones/139665/5 "2002-11-30T22:43:10Z")

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Both poles are UTC, which is _essentially_ the same as GMT - the main (minor?) difference being GMT is based on the rotation of the earth and UTC (which sometimes has minutes that are 61 seconds) on atomic clocks

Same thing in space.

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**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\
**Post date:** [December 1, 2002, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-question-about-time-zones/139665/6 "2002-12-01T02:25:30Z")

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**Corbomite** , that doesn’t gel with the sites given by **Unclebill**

It would appear from those sites that the South Pole is on NZ time. BTW the discrepency between the two sites is because one of them was using NZ Daylight Savings Time which is GMT+13 and is used over the summer months in NZ.