What is the time zone in Antarctica?
Antarctica sits on every line of longitude because the South Pole is on the continent. Theoretically, Antarctica would be located in all time zones.
Since Antarctica is largely uninhabited, the continent is not officially divided up into time zones. However, there are a number of research stations, each of which observes its own local time. Some stations use the time zone of the country that operates or supplies them, others observe the local time of countries nearby.
More Info:
www.timeanddate.com
What are your thoughts on this subject?
11 Comments
Fred Mayes
That is not the answer to the question! Antartica uses New Zealand times. (GMT+12)
"The Earth's longitudes meet on the geographical South Pole in Antarctica. This means that, in theory, any of the world's time zones could be used there. However, since it is usually accessed via New Zealand, the Amundsen-Scott station located on the South Pole observes New Zealand Standard Time (NZST) during standard time and New Zealand Daylight Time (NZDT) during Daylight Saving Time (DST)."
Julie Allen
Fred Mayes, That may be the time used by the Amundsen-Scott station but Bases and stations around Antarctica tend to keep either the time relating to their home territory or the supply line that feeds them. Mawson for instance uses UTC+5.
Strictly speaking the South Pole operates GMT but you can walk through all 24 time zones in a few seconds!
James Parrillo, with Christine
Denny Quigley, I do not know if there is regular contact. However, wouldn't they be able to interact as if they were in the home countries, five hours behind the United Kingdom for America's base, and thirteen for Japan. I just looked, and I had no idea that so many countries have bases there, 31 countries, perhaps with more than one base each. <<CaptainAntartic.com>> Thank you, Christine, James's wife
Mic Fenst
Jim Sims, It has no single "official" time zone.
Fred Mayes
Julie Allen, But the 'answer' says there are no 'official' time zones.
Denny Quigley
Thanks Fred. The given answer made little sense as the bases often interact. If they were using their country of origin time zone then they could easily be many hours apart creating great confusion.
Karin Johansson
Fern Russell, so the answer is right.
Jim Sims
It has to have at least 1 time zone!
bonniecardona
This is a very interesting answer and it makes perfect sense to me for each research station to have the time zone that is current to their homeland. Thanks Lily
Cheryl Maxwell
Good one, Lily!
Fern Russell
When I looked up the time for Antarctica it told me time in GMT. The bases established Antarctica often use the time associated with the country owning each base.