UTC offset
TheUTC offsetis the difference in hours and minutes betweenCoordinated Universal Time(UTC) and local solar time, at a particular place. This difference is expressed with respect to UTC and is generally shown in the format±[hh]:[mm],±[hh][mm],or±[hh].So if the time being described is two hours ahead of UTC (such as inKigali,Rwanda[approximately 30° E]), the UTC offset would be "+02:00", "+0200", or simply "+02".
By convention, every inhabited place in the world has a UTC offset that is a multiple of 15 minutes but the majority of offsets are stated in whole hours. There are many cases where the national standard time uses a time zone that differs from the UTC offset appropriate to its longitude.
Time zones and time offsets[edit]
Atime zoneis a geographicalregionin which residents observe the samestandard time.Although nominally a new time zone is established every 15 degrees east or west of theprime meridian(meaning a one-hour change in solar time), in practice local geographical or political considerations may vary its application. The most extreme example of this istime in China,which applies a single standard time offset ofUTC+08:00(eight hours ahead ofCoordinated Universal Time), even though China spans five geographicaltime zones.
The UTC offset (ortime offset) is an amount of time subtracted from or added toCoordinated Universal Time(UTC) time to specify the local solar time (which may not be the currentcivil time,whether it is standard time ordaylight saving time).
Daylight saving time[edit]
Several regions of the world usedaylight saving time(DST) and the UTC offset during this season is typically obtained by adding one hour to local standard time.Central European TimeUTC+01:00is replaced byCentral European Summer TimeUTC+02:00,and Pacific Standard TimeUTC−08:00is replaced by Pacific Daylight TimeUTC−07:00.
Illustrative examples[edit]
| Location | Longitude | UTC offset | When UTC time is 12:00, local standard time is: |
When local time is 12:00, UTC time is |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accra,Ghana | 0° 12' W | UTC+00:00 | 12:00 | 12:00 |
| Mogadishu,Somalia | 45° 20′ E | UTC+03:00 | 15:00 | 09:00 |
| Dhaka,Bangladesh | 90° 23′ E | UTC+06:00 | 18:00 | 06:00 |
| Manila,Philippines | 120° 58' E | UTC+08:00 | 20:00 | 04:00 |
| Koror,Palau | 134°29′E | UTC+09:00 | 21:00 | 03:00 |
| Suva,Fiji | 178° 27′ E | UTC+12:00 | 00:00 | 00:00 |
| Honolulu,United States | 157° 51 W | UTC−10:00 | 02:00 | 22:00 |
| Guatemala City,Guatemala | 90° 32' W | UTC−06:00 | 06:00 | 18:00 |
| Brasília,Brazil | 47° 53' W | UTC-03:00 | 09:00 | 15:00 |
See also[edit]
- ISO 8601– international standard for representing dates and times.
External links[edit]
- time.gov(US)
- Time Service Dept., U.S. Naval ObservatoryArchived2015-08-01 at theWayback Machine
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