Waiting for Sunrise Near the Russian Arctic

 

http://www.google.ru/imgres/StudentDoc/Archives/mbarraga/continents.

Russian Exaggerated Time.

Our time zone should be called Russian Exaggerated Time.  The problem goes back to initiatives of Peter the Great, Joseph Stalin, and Dmitry Medvedev.

Our second winter of year-long summer time is enervating.   Larissa and I feel time is disappearing, flying by...poof!  We have given in to sleeping way late, sometimes not getting our of bed until after 10 AM.

First, in 1703 Peter founded St Petersburg just 7 degrees from the Arctic Circle.  Next, Stalin in 1930 added an hour to what was sensible standard time.  And then Medvedev  added another hour in 2011!

St Petersburg’s location in such a northern latitude makes time coordination with central Russia difficult.  Arctic Climatology and Meteorology states... 

The Arctic Circle is an imaginary line that marks the latitude above which the sun does not set on the day of the summer solstice (usually 21 June) and does not rise on the the day of the winter solstice (usually 21 December).

My Calculation. The Arctic Circle is moving approximately 50 feet north every year, that’s almost two miles since Peter the Great established St Petersburg in 1703.

The northern latitudes experience accelerating sunrise – and shorter days – until the winter solstice.  St Petersburg’s shortest day in 2012 was December 21, and the latest sunrise was 1101 from December 23 through 30.  Twilight on either side of sunrise and sunset gives us some light during two to three hours from dawn to sunrise and from sunset to dusk.

I first saw a far northern sky while on the USS Bordelon in 1969 when we were approaching our incursion of the Arctic Circle.  The St Petersburg sky is similar now... light blue, with clouds hanging in the cold air, wispy, white and moving little.  The sun throughout the day stays close to the horizon.

The latest civil time sunrise in the world that I’ve found for December 21st is at Umba, Russia, just south of the Circle, at 1240 PM.  Vorkuta, just inside the Arctic Circle, is in darkness until its next sunrise the day after Christmas.  Murmansk, within the Arctic Circle, has no daylight whatsoever  from December 1 through January 10.   

How Russia could make telling time so awkward?

The two extra hours added to our time are especially difficult for Russia’s cities close to the Arctic Circle.  St Petersburg’s sunrise is approximately two hours off solar time, but Moscow’s at this time of year is only around one hour.

St Petersburg’s time zone, Moscow Time, jibed with western Russia’s longitude range until June 21, 1930 when it was advanced an hour year-round changing it from 2 to 3 hours later than London.   Then another hour was added with Dimitry Medvedev’s decree in 2011. 

True solar time for the December 21 sunrise is 905 AM but on the civic clock that’s 11 AM!  Oslo Norway, on the same latitude as St Petersburg, but at around 20 degrees longitude west, observes civil sunrise on December 21 at  918. 

Adjusting to whacky man made time...

You might say... Well, why not pretend that standard civil time is closer to solar time and just subtract a few hours at this time of year from the clock, and get up at 8 (resulting ) as you did before?  It isn’t so easy as people and institutions beyond our apartment insist on observing civil time.

My step-father, Ray Clarke told about  his early years in Atlantic Highlands NJ.  His grandpa hated Daylight Savings Time so he carried two watches in his vest pockets... one on his right for government Daylight Savings, the one to his left for true Standard Time... a true curmudgeon! 

Fact Check!  Years later I asked Ray if his account was true.  He hesitated, smiled, and quietly said, No.

Arguments for a change back...

People need to wake up and get safely to school or work.  The general feeling in St Petersburg is that the extra winter daylight time added to short winter afternoons isn’t worth the later mornings.

We are that much further separated from Western Europe, Britain, and the US.  Emails to California can require a longer wait for an answer.

How I deal with Russian Exaggerated Time...

Every morning I check with the website Time and Date [click here], and write the civil times of sunrise, sunset, and solar noon at the top of my memo book.  Then I subtract 1200 from the solar noon time to find the difference between official civil time and real solar time.

What will be the future of time measurement in Russia?

It appeared this fall that Medvedev’s decree would be reversed.  Now any action seems unlikely.  If it were up to me I would abolish both extra hours and work to make civil time closer to solar time.

Further reading.

Over the years this has been a favorite topic of mine.  You  may enjoy these posts from other years... Just click on the title.

The Solstice in St Peters.burg

Watch Out for the Solstice!

Bargain Heating Bills in St Petersburg!

Russian time changes a final time, now told with fewer watches!

Sliding Into a Cold Dark Winter of the Russian North

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Technorati Tags: Vladimir Putin,Peter the Great,Joseph Stalin,Dmitry Medvedev,Russian Exaggerated Time,RET,Arctic Circle,elliptical line,twilight,dawn,dusk,solstice,civil time,daylight time,timeanddate.com,USS Bordelon,Umba,Vorkuta,Murmansk,Moscow Time,latitude,longitude,solar time,Oslo.

Russia In 2000 and 2012

 

That was then, this is now...

Russia has changed since 2000.  I see that people are getting by better.  When I arrived there were lines of babuskas near the open air market trying to sell something.  Working men frequently wore military fatigues. 

Changing motor vehicles...

Most trucks appeared to be former military transport with license numbers painted on the back.  Now we have a range of imports along with domestic GAZ trucks.

St Petersburg is jammed with automobiles.  In 2000 it seemed half the cars were domestic Ladas and Volgas, much of the balance German Mercedes.  Volga stopped production in 2010, as foreign cars took most of their upscale market.

Now along with Ladas and Mercedes are brands from Europe, the US, and Asia.  You’ll see more types than in the West, as Russia has low safety standards and anything that looks good sells.  I believe Russians are the least safety conscious of all people.

Smaller Chinese buses are a big improvement!

Yutong bus pulling away from our street entrance.

In 2012 suddenly it seems the awkward and uncomfortable sardine can mapshutkas are gone, replaced with smaller buses and larger jitneys than before... imported from China.

A larger mapshrutka, the Golden Dragon in St Petersburg

Memories of the old mapshrutkas...

Now people don’t have to stoop while getting to their seats.  In 2000 the jouncing speedy mapchutkas felt like amusement park rides. Climbing in, I often met blasting Russian popular music and I felt I was joining a party of poker faced people.

Often a young woman sat in the seat facing the passengers.  A few passengers sat next to the driver.  People passed their money to the front, the driver sending back change.  A ride in 2000 was 7 rubles, now it’s 33.

In 2000 many women were impeccably dressed while the men looked worn out.  Women now don’t seem as fashionable, but men overall seem healthier.

Corruption is worse...

Corruption is still joked about on television as it’s something everyone has to deal with. 

Alcohol is a curse on the Russian people..

I see fewer men walking down the sidewalk with an open beer in their hands.  Now beer has been reclassified as alcohol, not what was formerly a ‘food stuff’.  That change means that young teens have more trouble buying beer.  Medvedev’s anti-alcohol campaign may be showing results.

Since 2004 beer ads on television were prohibited from showing people or cartoon characters... only the bottle could move around.  As of July 23, 2012, beer commercials are banned from television.  Still, comedians do routines about drunkenness, a topic that in Russia is acceptable for laughs.

My inner clock is having troubles!

This is Russia’s second year with no clock changes.  We have summer time. with an extra hour of evening light. throughout the year.  This situation can at times put us close to two hours off actual solar time.

The good and bad of our apartment...

Our apartment house, like most of the others, has a dismal, unkempt entranceway, and no record  of elevator inspections posted, and the lighting on the stairways and in the hallways is as bad as ever.  But enter many apartments units here and you will find modern well-designed ‘Ot-Europe’  homes.

Our dvor, courtyard, is one of the best in the city.  Arcs of flowering cabbage and cauliflower, nasturtiums, and begonias grace the yard, along with  mature trees.  The playground and exercise equipment is tops, and there are many wooden benches for the old folks to meet and chat.

The view from our balcony

Eating well is a top priority in Russia.

We get top quality produce and meat.  Milk, sour cream, and butter is for sale right outside our courtyard door, fresh from a farm in Leningrad oblast. 

The supermarkets offer a good selection, less adulterated and corrupted than in the West.  Some of my favorites are sea cabbage, smoked fish, and tomato paste from the  south.  Our supermarket has a yearly ascending discount card, but no one clips store coupons as they do in the USA.

A good philosophy and a little luck is what we all need...

It amazes me how helpful strangers are with directions.  Few Russians have that hurry sickness  I frequently saw in the eyes of New Jersey people.

People are calmer.  They don’t admire that aggressive attitude such as shown by Romney in the first presidential debate.

The people I meet at the post office, the stores, and at parties are often helpful and glad to talk.  Even though we have a northern cold wet climate, we have been lucky to be able to live simply without interference.  Russia is an unlikely spot to be happy, but it has worked for us!

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Technorati Tags: GAZ,Lada,Volga,Mercedes,safety,Yutong bus,Golden Dragon bus,mapshrutka,dvor courtyard. elevators.

Russian time changes a final time, now told with fewer watches!

Image via Wikipedia

 

 

The Phoebe Snow, bound for Buffalo, roared through Maplewood just before 10.  Bored with Miss Bailey’s math class, we boys were distracted and noisy when we heard the horn/whistle.  It’s passing was more accurate than the classroom clock.

Telling time goes back to Egypt and Mesopotamia (now Iraq).  China a thousand years ago was using a decimal division of time.

So what time is it?

People have told time by passing trains, sundials, water clocks, hourglasses, ship’s bells, factory whistles and clocks on buildings.

But  a Scot may not give you the time of day!  In 1973 I stayed at Carbisdale Castle, in the Highlands (made into a youth hostel) and heard about the Castle of Spite.  The Duchess of Sutherland won a large financial settlement from an inheritance battle. 

It was stipulated her deceased husband’s family would build her a castle, but just off Sutherland lands.  For spite, they say, when the castle was built in 1907 the duchess saw to it that the tower had three clock faces, none of which could be seen by the other Sutherlands as they went by on the train.  She wouldn’t give them the time of day!

Solar time the only scientifically accurate time.

In St Petersburg Russia, on March 19, 2011, the true solar time for noon was 1206.  Click on Time and Date to find how far your official time is from solar true time. 

That’s why sun dials are off (unless you routinely adjust them!).

 Eternal Summer Time

By presidential decree, Russia changed time one last time on Sunday March 27 when at 2 AM it instantly became 3 AM.  This new time is  called Daylight Saving Time, but will probably be renamed  Standard Time.   St Petersburg is now on Moscow Daylight Time (MSD).

When Europe changes time back on October 30, Russia will not.  When the United States is on their Daylight Saving Time, Russia is eight hours ahead, otherwise there is now a nine hour difference.

President Dmitry Medvedev agrees with scientists that time changes are stressful.  Calculations indicate Russia will see 7 to 17 percent more winter daylight.  Unfortunately we will have to wait one more hour for sunrise after a long winter night in St Petersburg. 

Cell phones replacing wristwatches?

How will future Russians check time?  This thought hit me recently.  I expected wristwatch sales would be down after a century of popularity but the numbers were not conclusive. 

Trend Alert!  One study recounted that a sampling of the college class of ‘14 in the United States had no idea that tapping on one’s wrist is a request for the time.

Taking a cell phone out of a pocket seems more work than glancing at your wrist.  But nowadays is a watch or a cell phone the main object of consumer pride?

The Watch Phone!  

This year, Chinese consumers have a fad for the watch phones. .  They are bulky, awkward to use, and expensive. 

Russians may be slow to make watches obsolete.

It appears watches are becoming things of the past.  But how about in Russia? People here are attuned to symbols of status and power.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin wears his watch on the right wrist.  (It’s obvious because it’s on the ‘wrong’ hand.)  How many of his people in government still wear watches? Probably a lot if  ‘follow-the-leader’ holds true.

Let’s look at Yuri Luzhkov, the former mayor of Moscow, famous for his кепка, worker’s cap.  I watched the TV news after he was fired and suddenly the same functionaries at the mayor’s office were not wearing worker’s caps. I suggest Russian politicians will continue to wear a watch as long as Vladimir Putin sports one.  

My conclusion...

Looks like the last thing we will have on our wrists (except for bracelets) will be a watch.

Articles and References

Cell Phones Replace the Need for Many Alternative Products by Elle

Do People Wear Watches to Tell Time? by Adam McFarland

President to Shift Russia to Daylight Saving-Time by Nikolaus von Twickel

Your Comments Welcome 

1. Are you a fan of Daylight Saving Time, hate it, or don’t care?  Maybe it would be better to call it Daylight Shifting Time.

2. When you ask someone for the time, where does he/she look?  Have you noticed fewer people wearing watches?  Why?

3. I don’t like things on my wrist or in my pockets, preferring to know the time from clocks, electronics, and by the sun.  How about you?

Earlier post... Russia Reduces Time Zones to Nine, 26 March 2010

 

Technorati Tags: Time measurement,Phoebe Snow,Carbisdale Castle,time differences,Daylight Saving Time,Russian Standard Time,Moscow time,solar time,кепка worker's hat,timeanddate.com.

 

 

Russia Reduces Times Zones to Nine

Now we remove some time zones... Next we abolish Daylight Time!

St Petersburg may move the clock ahead one last time on 28 March 2010.  Russian scientists and some politicians see Daylight Time as unhealthy, pointing to studies showing more mental confusion, depression and heart attacks when DST starts and stops.  President Medvedev wants this to be the last season with a second hour forward for Daylight Time.

Russia now has only 9 time zones...

The big news is that Russia now has 9 time zones... consolidated from the previous 11.  Five regions have moved one hour closer to Moscow time.  These locations will have no daylight savings this year so the consolidation of Russian time zones can take effect.

West to east...

Udmurt Republic , Samara and Komarova  will join Moscow time zone, while people in the Far East regions of Kamchatka and Chukotka will be setting their time in the Magadan Zone one hour to the west, and will be just eight hours away for communications with Moscow.

Time not absolute...

Physically Russia spans 12 geographic time zones, 15° degrees latitude each, but observed only 11.  Now it has only 9.  This consolidation trend could continue.

If you think abolishing 2 time zones is radical, look at China.  Since 1949 it has had only one time zone, for a country nearly as wide as the United States.  Get busy, Obama!
.....

It's great to get comments!  Should the USA consolidate time zones?  Is Daylight time not worth the bother?  Why do politicians like to play around with time zones?

To comment open by clicking the 26.3.10  below or clicking our title at the top.  Presto!  There's the form when you scroll to the end of this article.

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