What time is it at the North Pole?

Question

If it's 8 am in New York and all around the world it's a different time, what time is it at the North Pole?

Answer 1

It's any time you want! All the time zones come together at both poles, so asking what time it is at the North Pole is like asking which way is north.
Local time at all other locations on the Earth's surface is based on the Sun's position relative to the celestial meridian, an imaginary line running north and south directly overhead. Noon is based on when the Sun crosses the local meridian, which also corresponds to its highest point in the sky on a given day.
At the North Pole, there is no north/south line that can define a meridian. Also, on any given day the Sun circles the sky at the same apparent altitude. There is no "highest position" to define noon.
By convention, I assume it would be convenient to select the prime meridian and its corresponding zulu time as the standard time at either pole.

Answer 2

Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is the official time zone for the North Pole - so figure 4 or 5 hours (depending on Daylight Savings Time) ahead of New York. As I write this in NH, it is 8.46 PM - it is 1:46 AM GMT.

So, 8 AM in New York would be 1 PM at the Pole

Answer 3

2 am

Answer 4

Whatever time you want it to be is what it is. If you came from New York and you didn't want to change your watch then yes it is 8 am. There is no getting around this.

Answer 5

The time at the magnetic north pole is central canadien time.

Answer 6

If its 8am in new york, then in North Pole Alaska, it is 4am!!

Answer 7

12 midnight

Answer 8

Thats a darn good question, time to go someplace warmer :-)

Answer 9

It's 5 pm somewhere