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How come there are ~21 hours between the two Diomede islands that are only 4 km apart? (midwest.social)

submitted 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) by clark@midwest.social to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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The Diomede Islands are two islands in the Arctic Ocean, between Alaska and Siberia. Despite the distance being 4 kilometres, there is a time difference of 21 hours between them. Why?

I’m asking because it’s quite difficult for me to grasp the concept of time differences when the physical distances are so short. I know of the International Date Line, but I’m not sure what it entails. If any nerds would care to enlighten me, I’d appreciate it!

(This question also applies to the Kiribati Island and Howland Island; the time difference is ~26 hours, yet the physical distance is only ~2160 km?)

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[–] deegeese@sopuli.xyz 32 points 9 months ago (1 children)

If you leave aside the date change, they’re only 3 hours apart in terms of time of day.

It’s very common for places to adopt the time zone of the nearest human settlement. One island goes to the arctic base to the left, one goes to the right.

[–] Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 10 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

And they do it because more people go to and from each island than between them. That's mostly the reason for time zone borders anyway

It's why western Spain and eastern Norway share a timezone, despite there being almost 2 hours of actual difference between them.