Re: [LEAPSECS] decision tree for civil time

From: Rob Seaman <seaman_at_noao.edu>
Date: Sun, 14 Aug 2005 00:03:37 -0700

On Aug 13, 2005, at 2:05 PM, Warner Losh wrote:

> If we had a 10 year schedule, every 2 years or so the
> next two years would be scheduled. Eg:
>
> Jan 1, 2006 announce leap seconds through 2016.
> Jan 1, 2008 announce leap seconds through 2018.
>
> etc. This would still allow for the sychronization of the civilian
> time scale, while still allowing for more predictability. Over time,
> we could likely expand the time horizon for the predictions (eg do it
> out 15 years instead of 10, then 20, then 25, etc).

I'll add this to the tree as something like "sliding" or perhaps
"adaptive" scheduling.

> Such a scheme would optimize multiple variables, with no single one
> dominating.

I'm going to refrain from commenting on the "best" choices from the
decision tree until it nears completion. However, certainly one must
suspect that any optimum solution will relax a wide selection of the
variables jointly. It is also quite likely that more than several
solutions will be identified that are near optimum in such a fashion.

Rob Seaman
National Optical Astronomy Observatory
Received on Sun Aug 14 2005 - 00:03:43 PDT