Jan. 2, 2015
11:06 p.m.
On 01/02/2015 02:39 PM, Jonathan Leffler wrote:
why is it possible to decide when the New Year starts at the South Pole but not at the North Pole?
Because the South Pole is inhabited, and has a local time (same as its supply base McMurdo). The North Pole is in international waters, where the convention is to use meridians to delimit time zones, and that convention breaks down at the pole. You can see images of past New Year's Eve celebrations at Amundsen-Scott here: http://www2.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/pole-gear.html I can sympathize with those photos, as right now I'm working in an unheated office -- UCLA shuts off the heat during winter break to save money.