Anyone dare answer this one???? ;-)

KevCarina

Greenwich time (Greenwich Lab is located in London) has the same time as London time during winter time, however London is 1 hour ahead of GMT during summer time.??????????? How?

fletch

Anyone...come on I'm interested too...can't be bothered googlin either

leeroybrown

It's a very obvious answer. BST (British Summer Time) isn't used in Greenwich Lab which obviously sticks to it's own GMT for a full twelve months.

SpaceJunkie

Yup! In the States we call it Daylight Savings Time but it means the same thing. GMT is the absolute time standard for the world.

billy the squid

The process of putting clocks back an hour in winter was introduced in 1916 during the first world war in an attempt to conserve fuel .

In the 70s they experinmented with leaving the clocks in the same timezone for one year but farmers in scotland objected to it as it didnt get bright in winter until 10am making their work more difficult. In winter scotland gets less daylight than London.

SpaceJunkie

And take that a step further, in the winter (Northern Hemisphere), there is no "day" at all near the arctic circle. That's why days and nights up there are (approx) 6 months long!

This may be a little off topic, but it should be noted that the same astronomical process that led to "one hour shifts" during summer months can also be associated with two imaginary lines found on most globes and maps: The Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn! The same measured parameter of the Earth that causes the seasons and the change in the length of a day also define these two important lines. Anyone care to take a shot at what that is? : )

Canis Lupus

I bet it has something to do with cats

SpaceJunkie

No, not cats...LOL.

In fact, it is the Earth's 23 degree tilt. If Earth's poles were exactly verticle with respect to its orbital plane, the sun would be over the Equater all year 'round. And there would be no seasons. But due to the 23 degree tilt of the poles, the southern hemisphere faces the sun during their summer (and our winter) and the northern hemisphere faces the sun during our summer (and their winter). At the peak of summer, in the southern hemisphere, the sun is directly over the Tropic of Capricorn and at the peak of summer in the northern hemisphere, the sun is directly over the Tropic of Cancer. During spring and fall months, the sun passes over the equater. That is why equinox occurs during spring and fall when the sun is over the equator and days are the same length as nights. Equinox= Equal Nights! In summer (NH), the sun is north of the equator and days are longer then nights, while during winter months (NH), the sun is below the equater and nights are longer then days.

When days are longer during summer, we adjust our time to more effectively use the longer daylight hours, thus Daylight Savings Time.

The Earth's 23 degree tilt is responsible for the seasons and Daylight Savings time. And the sun's apparent movement north and south of the equator over a year's time (one orbit of the sun) define the Tropic Lines.

Capt'n Midnight

That's as maybe
BUT we are in a different time zone to the UK !

In Winter in the UK , GMT matches local time.
In Winter in Ireland the clock is changed from Irish Time by an hour to match GMT

SpaceJunkie

It is interesting that every country, province or state decides how it will use (or not use) a form of "Savings Time" in summer. Even the time zones map zig & zag back and forth depending on what they want to observe for local time.

One of the reasons that Scientists and Astronomers use GMT in coordination with UTC is the fact that they do not change* and mean the same thing worldwide.

*GMT and UTC do actually change but only by "leap-seconds" per year which allows scientists to keep time "coordinated" with the Earth's natural (and somewhat erratic) motion.

Healio

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

That's as maybe
BUT we are in a different time zone to the UK !

are you sure??

Capt'n Midnight

Yes

SpaceJunkie

Well, I for one, am confused. Every time zone map I've looked at shows Dublin, Ireland in the same time zone as London, England. Is Ireland split into two time zones? Some maps seem to bare this out as a possiblity.

In Winter in the UK , GMT matches local time.
In Winter in Ireland the clock is changed from Irish Time by an hour to match GMT

These two statements seem to say that "in winter" the time zone is the same in Ireland as it is in the UK. Both = GMT. Can you clear it up for me?

Thx.

SpaceJunkie

?

Capt'n Midnight

SpaceJunkie wrote:

Well, I for one, am confused. Every time zone map I've looked at shows Dublin, Ireland in the same time zone as London, England. Is Ireland split into two time zones? Some maps seem to bare this out as a possiblity.

These two statements seem to say that "in winter" the time zone is the same in Ireland as it is in the UK. Both = GMT. Can you clear it up for me?

Thx.

We are in a different time zone but because of the different implementations of daylight saving time the hours are the same.

SpaceJunkie

SpaceJunkie wrote:

...the southern hemisphere faces the sun during their summer (and our winter) and the northern hemisphere faces the sun during our summer (and their winter)...

Ever wonder why birds in the northern hemisphere "fly south for the winter" ? It's really amazing how many things can be linked to such a simple physical phenomenon as the Earth's tilt.

doh.ie

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

That's as maybe
BUT we are in a different time zone to the UK !

In Winter in the UK , GMT matches local time.
In Winter in Ireland the clock is changed from Irish Time by an hour to match GMT

Several years ago (early 90s) a plan was mooted that would see Ireland one hour behind the UK. (Among the many reasons given was one that if you went on a business trip, you'd leave Ireland at 8am and arrive in the UK at... 8am.)

But they rightfully saw sense and realised it was more important we kept time with the UK than deviate from that zone for no good reason. TV channels in particular would have been a disaster (Sunday at 9, 8 IRL?! for those who cared to include both...) And then there's the issue of what time zone Northern Ireland would have fallen into!

SpaceJunkie

You can easily imagine the problems we, in the States, have with TV programming....

8:00 Eastern Time, 7:00 Central Time, 6:00 Mountain Time & 5:00 Pacific Time.

But it gets even worse. They broadcast the same programming from two different satellites at two different times so the stations in each time zone can pick and choose which times they carry the broadcasts. Although the networks do their best to make the correct times available in their advertisements, the only way to know for sure is to check local listings and hope they (at least) have it right. They don't, always. Sheesh!

The_Conductor

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

We are in a different time zone but because of the different implementations of daylight saving time the hours are the same.

Ok- my head is spinning.....
What are you talking about?
Ireland, the UK and Portugal share the same time zone......
What on earth have you in mind with the above statement?
What do you mean by "different implications of daylight savings time?"
The implication is exactly the same. The effect may be different (given different latitude and longitude), but the implication is exactly the same- namely that having flexible time bands allows us to have more brightness in the morning, at the expense of less daylight in the evening (during our winter months).

Also- this applies in Scotland too- Winter time allows them an extra hour of brightness in the morning (i.e. they get up an hour later), so contrary to the asertain above, it actually gets brighter earlier because of the change in time there (maybe the suggestion of getting bright at 10AM applies to the Orkneys or somewhere, it seems very far fetched).

FYI- Westminster proposed abolishing Summertime for England and Wales from 2007 onwards (last week). Scotland would be presumed to follow suit, and with them ourselves and the North. This would mean we would be operating on GMT all year round, and in tandem with CET for 6 months of the year (the international services sector have been voiciferously lobbying the government through IBEC and the chambers of commerce on this for a number of years).

Sounds like we're going to have a little fun over the next two or three years

SpaceJunkie

smccarrick wrote:

Ok- my head is spinning.....

Yours and mine both.... (See #13 above....LOL)

fatherdougalmag

My understanding is that UK and Ireland are in the same time zone. In other words, we share the same clock time. GMT is fixed but there's British Summer Time, and it's counterparts, around the world. These are offsets against GMT or Zulu time as it's also known (see it on some weather charts - http://www.wetterzentrale.de/pics/Rtavn062.gif - top right Z). I think UTC (Universal Time Constant) is another name.

I don't know about Ireland having it's own time zone. The various summer time shifts generally occur at the same time (and back again) although you can sometimes find yourself 6 hours behind east coast US as opposed to the more familiar 5 hours.

Stall the ball, there is an Irish Summer Time. http://www.timeanddate.com/library/abbreviations/timezones/eu/ist.html. The only difference between it an BST is purely titular (always wanted to use that word). In effect we still 'spring forward' and 'fall back' at the same time so we're effectively (not strictly) in the same time zone as the UK.

SpaceJunkie

Ah, that clears things up a little bit anyway. I thought there was little or no difference. So, I guess he meant they were in a different timezone (in name only)...LOL.

Probably, a remenent left over from one of the many disputes Ireland has had with England over the millenia.... : )

UNIFLU

space,

did you see the swallows migrating this year, caught them collecting when driving past the curragh on naas road, had to stop and watch (2 hours!) was the most fascinating thing i have seen this year.

back to the time situation. i dont ever change my clocks, is a slight pain in the ass but seeing as i work as sales rep for my family business it works ok, just have to keep the time adjsutment in mind, nobody is surprised by me in fairness as all my family and customers think i am quirky at best.

E.

mike65

Shhhesh! I see Angels dancing on the head of a pin! We share the same time zone as the UK and Portugal! Always have done. Well since they were standardised. We fall into the West European Time zone. Which is Coordinated Universal Time "0" (zero)

http://www.fact-index.com/t/ti/time_zone.html

Mike.

smoke.me.a.kipper

fatherdougalmag wrote:

although you can sometimes find yourself 6 hours behind east coast US as opposed to the more familiar 5 hours.

isnt that due to them doing the 'clocks back / forward thingy' [thats a technical term] a week before or after us?

SpaceJunkie

UNIFLU wrote:

space,

did you see the swallows migrating this year...

Unfortunately, where I live now, there is not much bird migration. The west coast of southern California is more a destination for migrating birds then an origin. But usually, they are more inland and not often visible near the coast.

But, I do remember when I was growing up in the central U.S. (Iowa), bird migration was often the confirmation that winter was just around the corner and likewaise, when they migrated back to Iowa, spring was near.

I miss those days.