Despite it happening year after year, and attempts in the US to establish a permanent time zone, changing the clocks twice a year remains an annoyance to morning people, night owls, and anyone with a circadian rhythm.
But what if there was a place where you can select which time zone you are in, perhaps declaring it 8 am and having a quick breakfast before announcing it’s now 3 am and well past bedtime? Well, good news, there is such a place, and as you’ve probably guessed, it’s cold there.
At the poles of the planet, day and night aren’t as separated out as they are nearer the equators. In fact – of course, thanks to how the planet is tilted – if you were to look up and see sunrise in the South Pole that would only really tell you it’s August, September, or October, which doesn’t really help you answer the question “is it time to go into work?”. However, how time works depends on which side of the planet you are on.
While there are no permanent residents in Antarctica, around 5,000 people in the summer – scientists and support staff – operate research stations on the continent, and around 1,000 in the winter. They’ve even begun to pick up their own accent.
For practical purposes – for instance, agreeing whether it’s time to sleep or work – they need to agree to their own time zones. So in Antarctica, time zones are generally set to match the time zone of the country that operates them or supplies them. For some, this may also involve changing the clocks twice a year due to daylight saving time. At the very south pole, the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station operates on New Zealand time (GMT +12 hours), and so visitors generally adopt this time too.
In the Arctic, the time zone is left up to the captain of the ship, according to timeanddate.com. This has led to some odd situations where supply ships are operating in completely different time zones to the ships they are supplying. It remains one of the few places on Earth where you can choose your own time zone, presuming you are captaining your own boat.
Source Link: The Last Remaining Place On Earth Where There Is No Time Zone
