Time zones of the North Atlantic mid-2024

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

, including its dependencies of

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ) (alt. the Faroes) are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. Located between Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the islands have a populat ...

and

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

, and metropolitan Denmark, uses six

time zones Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to compa ...

Time zones

Central European Time Central European Time (CET) is a standard time of Central, and parts of Western Europe, which is one hour ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The UTC offset, time offset from UTC can be written as UTC+01:00. It is used in most parts of Eur ...

UTC+01:00 as standard time, and UTC+02:00 as daylight saving time, with transition dates according to the European Union rules. *All of

proper. **Including

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

Aarhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus municipality, Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and app ...

and

Rønne Rønne () is the largest town on the Denmark, Danish island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea. It has a population of 13,675 (1 January 2025). It was a municipality in its own right from 1970 until 2002, when Bornholm was a Bornholm County, county (D ...

(

Bornholm Bornholm () is a List of islands of Denmark, Danish island in the Baltic Sea, to the east of the rest of Denmark, south of Sweden, northeast of Germany and north of Poland. Strategically located, Bornholm has been fought over for centuries. I ...

) :The UTC+01:00 centerline ( 15°E) goes through Bornholm, approximately 2 kilometers from

Gudhjem Gudhjem is a small town and fishing port on the northern coast of the Baltic island of Bornholm, Denmark. Its population is 736 (1 January 2024). Gudhjem is a popular venue for tourists who are attracted by its steep, picturesque streets, views ...

, in the far eastern Denmark, while Copenhagen at 12°34′E corresponds to UTC+0:50, and the west coast at 8°6′E corresponds to UTC+0:32. :An 1893 law set the ''

de jure In law and government, ''de jure'' (; ; ) describes practices that are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms, regardless of whether the practice exists in reality. The phrase is often used in contrast with '' de facto'' ('from fa ...

'' standard time of Denmark as the mean solar time 15°E of Greenwich, for all of Denmark, with an exception for the Faroe Islands, effective at 1 January 1894. This linked the standard time in Denmark to

Earth's rotation Earth's rotation or Earth's spin is the rotation of planet Earth around its own Rotation around a fixed axis, axis, as well as changes in the orientation (geometry), orientation of the rotation axis in space. Earth rotates eastward, in progra ...

, and clocks in Denmark were considered to be at

noon Noon (also known as noontime or midday) is 12 o'clock in the daytime. It is written as 12 noon, 12:00 m. (for '' meridiem'', literally 12:00 midday), 12 p.m. (for ''post meridiem'', literally "after midday"), 12 pm, or 12:00 (using a 24-hour cl ...

, when the sun is directly above the 15° Eastern meridian. As Earth's rotation is not completely regular, the time could be offset by up to 0.9 seconds in either direction, compared to UTC+1, requiring a leap second to be added to remedy the issue. On 14 March 2023, the

Folketing The Folketing ( , ), also known as the Parliament of Denmark or the Danish Parliament in English, is the unicameral national legislature (parliament) of the Kingdom of Denmark — Denmark proper together with the Faroe Islands and Greenland. E ...

adopted a proposal to set the de jure standard time of Denmark as UTC+1, with exceptions made for Greenland and the Faroe Islands. The proposal became effective law on 26 March 2023 at 2:00, superseding the 1893 law.

Western European Time Western European Time (WET, UTC+00:00) is a time zone covering parts of western Europe and consists of countries using UTC+00:00 (also known as Greenwich Mean Time, abbreviated GMT). It is one of the three standard time zones in the European Uni ...

UTC+00:00 as standard time, and UTC+01:00 as daylight saving time. *The

:The island of Mykines is actually located at 7°36′W longitude and thus at UTC−00:31 (closer to UTC−01:00 than UTC), however Mykines uses the same time zone as the rest of the Faroe Islands.

Greenwich Mean Time Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is the local mean time at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London, counted from midnight. At different times in the past, it has been calculated in different ways, including being ...

UTC+00:00 year around, no

daylight saving time Daylight saving time (DST), also referred to as daylight savings time, daylight time (Daylight saving time in the United States, United States and Daylight saving time in Canada, Canada), or summer time (British Summer Time, United Kingdom, ...

*The northeast coast of

. There are a few settlements, like the weather station

Danmarkshavn Danmarkshavn (Denmark's Harbour) is a small weather station located in Dove Bay, on the northeastern shore of the Germania Land Peninsula, in Northeast Greenland National Park, Greenland. History The location was chosen as a suitable winter harb ...

, otherwise unpopulated. :The area uses same time as Iceland (WET), since it is generally supplied from Iceland.

West Greenland Time

UTC−02:00 as standard time, and UTC−01:00 as daylight saving time. *All the west coast of

**Including

Qaanaaq Qaanaaq (), formerly known as New Thule, is the main town in the northern part of the Avannaata municipality in northwestern Greenland. The town has a population of 646 as of 2020. The population was forcibly relocated from its former, traditiona ...

Ilulissat Ilulissat, also known as Jacobshavn or Jakobshav, is the municipal seat and largest town of the Avannaata municipality in western Greenland, located approximately north of the Arctic Circle. With a population of 4,670 as of 2020, it is the ...

Kangerlussuaq Kangerlussuaq (; ; ) is a settlement in western Greenland in the Qeqqata municipalities of Greenland, municipality located at the head of the Kangerlussuaq Fjord, fjord of the same name. It was Greenland's main air transport hub and the site of G ...

Nuuk Nuuk (; , formerly ) is the capital and most populous city of Greenland, an autonomous territory in the Kingdom of Denmark. Nuuk is the seat of government and the territory's largest cultural and economic center. It is also the seat of gove ...

and

Qaqortoq Qaqortoq (), also known as Julianehåb, is the capital city of the Kujalleq municipalities of Greenland, municipality in southern Greenland, located near Cape Thorvaldsen. With a population of 3,050 in 2020, it is the most populous town in sout ...

Tasiilaq Tasiilaq, formerly Ammassalik or Angmagssalik ( Danish names: Kong Oscars Havn or simply Oscarshavn), is a town on Ammassalik Island in southeastern Greenland, within the municipality of Sermersooq. With 1,985 inhabitants as of 2020, it is th ...

Kulusuk Kulusuk (old spelling: ''Qulusuk''),Eastgreenland.com.Kulusuk". formerly Kap Dan, is a settlement in the Sermersooq municipality in southeastern Greenland, located on an island of the same name. The settlement has a population of 241, including m ...

Ittoqqortoormiit Ittoqqortoormiit (; ), formerly known as Scoresbysund, is a settlement in the Sermersooq municipality in eastern Greenland. Its population was 345 as of 2020, and it has been described as one of the most remote settlements on Earth. The former ...

, Neerlerit Inaat and surrounding area on the east coast Prior to October 29, 2023, the area was on the East Greenland Time. *Except

Pituffik Space Base Pituffik Space Base ( ; ; ), formerly Thule Air Base (), is a United States Space Force base located on the northwest coast of Greenland in the Kingdom of Denmark under a defense agreement between Denmark and the United States. 150 United Stat ...

Atlantic Time The Atlantic Time Zone is a geographical region that keeps standard time—called Atlantic Standard Time (AST)—by subtracting four hours from Coordinated Universal Time ( UTC), resulting in UTC−04:00. AST is observed in parts of North America ...

UTC−04:00 as standard time, and UTC−03:00 as

, with transition dates according to the United States rules. *

Daylight saving time

All of Greenland uses

Daylight Saving Time Daylight saving time (DST), also referred to as daylight savings time, daylight time (Daylight saving time in the United States, United States and Daylight saving time in Canada, Canada), or summer time (British Summer Time, United Kingdom, ...

, except for the northeast coast. The transition dates are according to the European Union rules, except for the Pituffik Space Base, which uses United States transition dates and for which the following description does not apply.

DST Daylight saving time (DST), also referred to as daylight savings time, daylight time (United States and Canada), or summer time (United Kingdom, European Union, and others), is the practice of advancing clocks to make better use of the long ...

starts at 01:00

UTC Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard globally used to regulate clocks and time. It establishes a reference for the current time, forming the basis for civil time and time zones. UTC facilitates international communica ...

on the last Sunday in March and ends same time on the last Sunday in October each year in all affected areas. That means that in Denmark proper, the transition is at 02:00 Local Standard Time (03:00 Daylight Saving Time) and in the

one hour earlier. In most of Greenland, the transition takes place at 23:00 Local Standard Time on the day before (00:00 Daylight Saving Time).

History

The first time a common time was used in Denmark, was in 1890, when Copenhagen local time was used as railway time. This was GMT+0:50:20 from Greenwich. In 1890 this time was introduced as a standard time for Denmark. In 1893, Denmark adopted the "Act on the Determination of Time", to connect to the international time zones, using Greenwich plus one hour, which set the standard time in Denmark as

when the sun is directly above 15°E, starting from 1 January 1894. This is the local time of eastern

, leaving 99.5% of the country west of the time meridian (15°E), which has triggered some sarcastic comments (changing from Copenhagen time to

time). However all of the country is located east of Greenwich +00:30 (7.5°E). Daylight saving time was used in the years 1916, 1940, 1945-1948 and is currently in use since 1980. The Faroe Islands introduced Greenwich Mean Time in 1908, and Iceland (then a Danish area) introduced GMT-01:00 at the same time (changed to GMT, permanent daylight saving time, in 1968). West Greenland introduced GMT-03:00 in 1916. Daylight saving time was introduced in the Faroe Islands in 1981. On 25 January 2023, Transport Minister, Thomas Danielsen made a proposal to overrule the 1893 law, with an act to set Danish standard time as UTC+1, with exceptions for Greenland and the Faroe Islands.Folketing The Folketing ( , ), also known as the Parliament of Denmark or the Danish Parliament in English, is the unicameral national legislature (parliament) of the Kingdom of Denmark — Denmark proper together with the Faroe Islands and Greenland. E ...