A storm-related power cut by the electric utility serving the Boulder campus of the National Institute of Standards and Technology caused a drift in time of 4 millionths of a second in the official time-keeper, the F-4 atomic clock. Those moments are immeasurable and of little importance to most of us - except for those who rely on precision in data centers, global positioning systems, aerospace, telecommunications and the Network Time Protocol service, the timing resource for computer systems.
In the wake of the storm, Jeff Sherman, the physicist who maintains the atomic clocks, reported in a mailing-list post on Google groups that [quote]: "The atomic ensemble time scale at our Boulder campus has failed due to a prolonged utility power outage." [endquote]
By some reports, then, in late December, time literally stood still -- however briefly -- until the switch was made to a backup generator. That cost the F-4 atomic clock its accuracy.
Anticipating the storm with winds of hurricane strength, the NIST had previously advised users to connect to redundant systems at other campuses such as WWV/Fort Collins Colorado, or Gaithersburg, Maryland which would remain unaffected.
As for the F-4 atomic clock in Boulder, the time discrepancy was resolved with the clock's recalibration after power was back on by Sunday, December 21st. It was, of course, just a matter of time.
