If it's midnight at the North Pole, what other countries would also be at midnight the same day?

Question

I know that the time zones meet at the North Pole and that, technically (or hypothetically?), the North Pole, for that reason, has no time zone, but time still continues there, obviously. I need to know where on Earth would it be the same time as it is at the North Pole?

Answer 1

The first answer seems to have copy-pasted the first article that comes up in Google. It's also inaccurate.

While there is no literal need to prefer one time or another since the poles are all longitudes and none at the same time, there are practical reasons for doing so in order to synchronize international actions.

It also appears that the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station uses New Zealand time, which is probably for the purpose of convenience since the station is supplied from New Zealand.

The time used officially on both poles is Greenwich Mean Time - or "Zero Time". All other times are measured off this time too, for example, US Eastern Time is "-5" or five hours behind Greenwich Mean Time.

So to answer your question, look at the map below. In the middle you'll see the "0" time zone (marked as yellow). Those are the areas that would share the time with the poles.

Answer 2

Bit of a trick question, but a good one. Early polar explorers had the same problem when trying to determine whether or not they had actually reached the exact location of the pole because it became extremely difficult to calculate longtitudinal travel.

If you were standing directly on top of the north pole, you could only know it was midnight by refering to your watch. Depending on what time zone you had set your watch in, it would be midnight in that same time zone.

Answer 3

As a practical matter, having all of the time zones means there is really no time zone for the polar regions. In Antarctica, the U.S. stations uses New Zealand time because most Americans who go to Antarctica for the U.S. Antarctic Program fly to and from there via Christchurch.

Once you arrive in New Zealand for the U.S. Antarctic Program, you could fly to Antarctica, everywhere that a U.S. airplane could take you on the continent, and back to Christchurch without ever having to change the time on your watch.

Since the only station at the South Pole is the U.S. station, the time used there is New Zealand time.

Other nations tend to use their home time zones in Antarctica, which makes radio and e-mail contacts simpler.

The permanent research stations in the Arctic are in countries, such as the Barrow Science Center in Barrow, Alaska, and these use the local time. When researchers venture out onto the Arctic Ocean ice, they can use any time the wish. But, in most cases it's probably easier to use the time for the institution, such as a university, that you are working for.