Time in Svalbard | |
---|---|
Time zone | Central European Time |
Initials | CET |
UTC offset | UTC+01:00 |
Time notation | 24-hour time |
Adopted | 1925 |
Daylight saving time | |
Name | Central European Summer Time |
Initials | CEST |
UTC offset | UTC+02:00 |
Start | Last Sunday in March |
End | Last Sunday in October |
In use since | 1996 (current alignment) |
tz database | |
Arctic/Longyearbyen |
Light Blue | Western European Time / Greenwich Mean Time (UTC) |
Blue | Western European Time / Greenwich Mean Time (UTC) |
Western European Summer Time / British Summer Time / Irish Standard Time (UTC+1) | |
Red | Central European Time (UTC+1) |
Central European Summer Time (UTC+2) | |
Yellow | Eastern European Time / Kaliningrad Time (UTC+2) |
Ochre | Eastern European Time (UTC+2) |
Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+3) | |
Green | Moscow Time / Turkey Time (UTC+3) |
Turquoise | Armenia Time / Azerbaijan Time / Georgia Time / Samara Time (UTC+4) |
Svalbard, an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean belonging to the Kingdom of Norway, uses Central European Time (CET) during the winter as standard time, which is one hour ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC+01:00), and Central European Summer Time (CEST) during the summer as daylight saving time, which is two hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC+02:00). This is shared with the rest of Norway, as is Svalbard's use of daylight saving time, which the territory observes annually by advancing the clock forward on the last Sunday in March and back again on the last Sunday in October. However, as Svalbard experiences midnight sun during the summer due to being located north of the Arctic Circle, it gives daylight saving time no utility, and is only observed in order to make communicating with Norway Proper more convenient. At the 74th parallel north, the midnight sun lasts 99 days and polar night 84 days, while the respective figures at the 81st parallel north are 141 and 128 days.