Time in Svalbard

The Spitsbergen Treaty of 9 February 1920 recognises Norway's full and absolute sovereignty over the arctic archipelago of Svalbard (formerly Spitsbergen), and has been subject to the laws of Norway since 14 August 1925.{{cite book|author=National Research Council (U.S.). Polar Research Board|title=Antarctic treaty system: an assessment|journal=Science of the Total Environment|volume=61|publisher=National Academies Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gNxjxfm4cSgC&pg=PA370|access-date=18 January 2022|year=1986|isbn=978-0309036405|pages=260–261|bibcode=1987ScTEn..61..260B|doi=10.1016/0048-9697(87)90375-5|archive-date=25 October 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111025140350/http://books.google.com/books?id=gNxjxfm4cSgC&pg=PA370|url-status=live}}{{cite web |url= https://lovdata.no/dokument/NL/lov/1925-07-17-11 |title= Lov om Svalbard [Svalbardloven] |website= Lovdata |publisher= Ministry of Justice and Public Security |language= no |date= 1925 |access-date= 18 January 2022 |archive-date= 2022-01-18 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220118211953/https://lovdata.no/dokument/NL/lov/1925-07-17-11 |url-status= live }} Steffen Thorsen of the tz database, which is backed by ICANN, hypotheses that Svalbard has possibly followed Norway's standard time since 1925, and before that had used a local mean time somewhere between 1895 (when Svalbard was first inhabited, same year Norway introduced standard time) and 1925. Accordingly, Svalbard has observed CET since 1925, and has been subject to Norway's laws on daylight saving time.

Svalbard observes daylight saving time yearly by advancing the clock forward one hour from Central European Time in UTC+01:00 to Central European Summer Time in UTC+02:00. Daylight saving time begins on the last Sunday in March and ends on the last Sunday in October.{{cite web |url= https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/svalbard/ |title= Svalbard |last= |first= |date= 14 January 2022 |website= The World Factbook |publisher= Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) |access-date= 18 January 2022 |quote= daylight saving time: +1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October |archive-date= 13 January 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210113110236/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/svalbard |url-status= live }} This is in-line with the rest of the Kingdom of Norway,{{cite book |author= Defense Mapping Agency |year= 2002 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=XK5Zqr2iW8gC |title= Summary of Corrections |publisher= National Imagery and Mapping Agency |volume= 5 |page= 420 |access-date= 18 January 2022 |archive-date= 24 March 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220324014852/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Summary_of_Corrections/XK5Zqr2iW8gC |url-status= live }} and has been observed in this current alignment since 1996.{{cite web |url=http://met.no/met/met_lex/q_u/sommertid.html |title= Sommertid i Norge |publisher= Norwegian Meteorological Institute |language= no |access-date= 18 January 2022 |url-status= dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060928081509/http://met.no/met/met_lex/q_u/sommertid.html |archive-date= 28 September 2006 }} Svalbard first observed daylight saving time by moving the clock forward one hour at inconsistent times between 1943 and 1945, and 1959 and 1965. Daylight saving time was reintroduced for a final time in 1980, and since 1996 Norway has followed the European Union regarding transition dates. As Svalbard experiences midnight sun during summer, it gives daylight saving time no utility, and is only observed in order to make communicating with Norway Proper more convenient.{{cite book| last= Pearce | first= Chris |year=2017 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=kpmbDgAAQBAJ |title= The Great Daylight Saving Time Controversy |publisher= Australian eBook Publisher |page= 112 |isbn= 9781925516968 | access-date=18 January 2022}}

{{Main|Geography of Svalbard}}

Most of Svalbard lies within the geographical UTC+01:00 offset (also known as zone "Alpha"), including the only permanently-populated island of Spitsbergen. Places located west of 22.5° East, including the western half of Nordaustlandet, are in the geographical UTC+02:00 offset ("Bravo").{{cite web | url= https://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/world_tzones.php |title= World Time Zone Map, corrected to August 2017 |date= |website= HM Nautical Almanac Office |publisher= United Kingdom Hydrographic Office |access-date= 17 January 2022 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190418082300/https://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/world_tzones.php |archive-date= 18 April 2019}}{{cite web |url= https://www.aos.wisc.edu/~hopkins/aos100/z-time.htm |title= TIME ZONES and "Z" TIME (UNIVERSAL TIME) |date= |website= Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences |publisher= U.S. Naval Observatory |access-date= 17 January 2022 |archive-date= 9 March 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210309171350/https://www.aos.wisc.edu/~hopkins/aos100/z-time.htm |url-status= live }}{{cite book |title= Sailing Directions (Planning Guide) |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=1ZffAAAAMAAJ |year= 2002 |publisher= National Imagery and Mapping Agency |page= 80 |access-date= 18 January 2022 |archive-date= 24 March 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220324014922/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Sailing_Directions_planning_Guide/1ZffAAAAMAAJ?client=safari |url-status= live }} As Svalbard is located north of the Arctic Circle, it experiences midnight sun during summer and polar night during winter. At the 74° parallel north, the midnight sun lasts 99 days and polar night 84 days, while the respective figures at the 81° parallel north are 141 and 128 days.{{cite book |title=Svalbard, vårt nordligste Norge |last=Torkildsen |first=Torbjørn |year=1984 |publisher=Forlaget Det Beste |language=no |pages=96–97 |isbn=82-7010-167-2 |display-authors=etal |url=https://www.nb.no/nbsok/nb/7f8672e24e7c0bb54f09f23e663a26af?lang=no |access-date=17 January 2022 |archive-date=18 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220118182629/https://www.nb.no/nbsok/nb/7f8672e24e7c0bb54f09f23e663a26af?lang=no |url-status=live }} In Longyearbyen, midnight sun lasts from 20 April until 23 August, and polar night lasts from 26 October until 15 February.{{cite news |title=Svalbard |publisher=Norwegian Polar Institute |url=http://npweb.npolar.no/english/geografi/svalbard |access-date=7 May 2021 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120415125926/http://www.npolar.no/en/the-arctic/svalbard/index.html |archive-date=15 April 2012 }} The difference of longitude between the western (10°29'31 E; Forlandet National Park, Prins Karls Forland){{cite web | url=https://geokart.npolar.no/Html5Viewer/index.html?viewer=Svalbardkartet | title=Svalbardkartet | publisher=Norwegian Polar Institute | accessdate=17 January 2022 | archive-date=21 January 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220121060710/https://geokart.npolar.no/Html5Viewer/index.html?viewer=Svalbardkartet | url-status=live }} and easternmost (33°30'59 E; Kræmerpynten, Kvitøya){{cite web |url=http://www.ssb.no/english/yearbook/geography.html |title=Geographical survey |work=Statistical Yearbook of Norway 2008 |publisher=Statistics Norway |accessdate=17 January 2022 |archive-date=15 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120815152207/http://www.ssb.no/english/yearbook/geography.html |url-status=live }} points of Svalbard results in a difference of approximately 1 hour 32 minutes of solar time.

{{main|Date and time notation in Norway}}

As with the rest of Norway, the 24-hour clock is commonly used, however when speaking informally, the 12-hour clock is often used.[https://www.lonelyplanet.com/norway/averoy/practical-information/directory/time/a/nar/79c9ddfe-b31d-41dc-913d-59821a5056e0/1339843 Time in Svalbard]. Lonely Planet. Retrieved 18 January 2022.{{dead link|date=September 2022}}

In the IANA time zone database, Svalbard is given one zone in the file zone.tab – Arctic/Longyearbyen. "SJ" refer's to the country's ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code, which is used for Svalbard and Jan Mayen collectively. The table below displays data taken directly from zone.tab of the IANA time zone database. Columns marked with * are the columns from zone.tab itself:{{cite web|url= https://data.iana.org/time-zones/tzdb-2020f/europe |title= Europe (2020 edition) |website= tz database |publisher= Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210509223130/https://data.iana.org/time-zones/tzdb-2020f/europe |archive-date=9 May 2021 | url-status= live |access-date= 20 May 2021}}

Computers which do not support "Arctic/Longyearbyen" may use the older POSIX syntax: TZ="CET-1CEST,M3.5.0,M10.5.0/3".{{cite web |last= Olson |first= Arthur David |author-link= Arthur David Olson |date= 22 April 2016 |url= https://mm.icann.org/pipermail/tz/2016-April/023570.html |title= [tz] Time zone selection |website= tz database |publisher= ICANN |access-date= 17 January 2022 |archive-date= 1 December 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20211201023925/https://mm.icann.org/pipermail/tz/2016-April/023570.html |url-status= live }}

• Time in Norway
• Time in Europe
• List of time zones by country

{{reflist}}

• [https://time.is/svalbard Current time in Svalbard] at time.is
• [https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/norway/svalbard Time in Svalbard] at TimeAndDate.com

{{Europe topic|Time in}}

Category:Time in Norway

Category:Geography of Svalbard