Henry VK2ZHE writes (for the upcoming Jan 1st 2017 WI news broadcast):

A leap second will be added at midnight on New Year’s Eve, co-ordinated universal time (UTC) which is at 11 am this morning on New Year’s Day, Eastern Australian Daylight Saving Time.

Leap seconds are periodically added to UTC to compensate for the slowing of the Earth’s rate of rotation so that UTC time remains in synchronism with the Earth’s rotation. Since 1972 a total of 26 seconds have been added to UTC time. When required, the adjustments are made in either June or December. The last leap second was added on the 30th of June 2015.

The addition of the leap second has been widely reported in the media. Detailed information is available on the various technical Internet web sites. Just search for “Leap Second” on your favourite search engine.

Enjoy the extra second during this morning’s callbacks!

Read the bulletin from the ‘International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS)’ here.