What time is it at the North Pole?

You all may find this to be a truly odd question, but really, what time is it at the North (or South, for that matter) Pole? I mean, allthe time zones converge to one point, right? Any ideas?

I have no idea what the real answer is. Since it can theoretically be any of 24 timezones my WAG is they’d use Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) since that seems to be the zero marker for all of the rest of the time zones. Either that or take your pick…

The polar bases at the South Pole use Greenwich Mean Time. For the most part they’re in the half of the globe closest to 0[sup]o[/sup] longitude, so for their days that are close to 1/2 day 1/2 night their clocks are close to accurate.

Then for their eternal days (summer) or nights (winter), the time on the clock is pretty irrelivant.

My guess is that it would be Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). Either that or whatever you watch said it was. :slight_smile:

McMurdo Base in Antarctica does indeed use GMT, even though it’s close to 180[sup]o[/sup] longitude. This makes the strange happening that sunrise is in the afternoon and sunset is in the morning.

E.g., on February 24, 2001, the sun will set at 10:53, and sunrise will be at 15:23 (3:23 pm).
Oh, and back to the OP about the North Pole: it does use GMT as well. But since there are no land bases (all pack ice floating on the Arctic Ocean), it’s kinda moot.

The nearest land to the North Pole, Greenland, uses GMT-4 and GMT-3. But the nearest it comes to the North Pole is 400 miles.

Considering the low population, I suppose it’s not much of an issue (so GMT or UT would be used). If humans ever colonize the s. pole, then a decision may be needed. I would guess that GMT or UT would be used south of a certain latitude (kind of like a time-zone toupee). Ditto for the n. pole…but there ain’t no land to colonize there.

The time at the North (and south) pole is now. Synchronize your watches. :wink:

~~Baloo

** Right now it is midnight at the North pole.** Since the pole is exactly on the International Date Line, hovering on the transition between two dates which can only occur at midnight in any given time zone.:smiley:

This is the most impeccable logic I’ve seen on this page yet. grienpace, meet Zeno…hahaha

What time zone is magnetic North Pole in?

“[T]he average position of the North Magnetic Pole in 1994 was located on the Noice Peninsula, southwest Ellef Ringnes Island, at 78.3° N, 104.0° W.”
Geological Survey of Canada

The motion trend of magnetic north is currently northward and a hair westward, about 15 km per year. But the longitude isn’t changing that quickly. 104 degrees west is about one degree off the prime meridian for the Mountain Time Zone (GMT -7, GMT -6 during the summer).

Teach me to post before checking all my facts.

According to a large number of maps on the Web, Ellef Ringnes Island (roughly the current location of the ‘north magnetic dip pole’, to use its scientifically correct name) is in Nunavut Territory. And according to the National Research Council, who oughtta know these things, Nunavut stays on Central Daylight Time (UT -5) year round.

So there you have it. But if it ever crosses the border to the Northwest Territories, boy howdy will there ever be a change!