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Time in the Danish Realm

The Danish Realm, consisting of metropolitan Denmark, the Faroe Islands, and Greenland, spans six time zones. Metropolitan Denmark observes UTC+01:00 standard time with daylight saving time shifting to UTC+02:00 following the EU transition dates. The Faroe Islands use UTC+00:00 standard and UTC+01:00 in summer. Greenland’s areas vary: Northeast Greenland National Park (e.g., Danmarkshavn) stays on UTC+00:00 without DST, while western parts like Ittoqqortoormiit use UTC−02:00 shifting to UTC−01:00. The Pituffik Space Base follows U.S. daylight saving with UTC−04:00 standard time. More details at the tz database.

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Time zones

Central European Time

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

The UTC+01:00 centerline (15°E) goes through Bornholm, approximately 2 kilometers from Gudhjem, 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 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 1894.3 This linked the standard time in Denmark to Earth's rotation, and clocks in Denmark were considered to be at noon, 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 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.45

Western European Time

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

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

UTC+00:00 year around, no daylight saving time

  • The northeast coast of Greenland. There are a few settlements, like the weather station Danmarkshavn, otherwise unpopulated.7
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.

Atlantic Time

UTC−04:00 as standard time, and UTC−03:00 as daylight saving time, with transition dates according to the United States rules.

Daylight saving time

All of Greenland uses Daylight Saving Time, 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 starts at 01:00 UTC 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 Faroe Islands 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 noon when the sun is directly above 15°E, starting from 1 January 1894.14 This is the local time of eastern Bornholm, leaving 99.5% of the country west of the time meridian (15°E), which has triggered some sarcastic comments (changing from Copenhagen time to Gudhjem 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 1980.15

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 1981.16

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.1718 On 14 March 2023, the Folketing adopted the proposal with unanimous consent, and the proposal came in effect as law on 26 March 2023, at 2:00.1920 Greenland moved the time zone forward one hour simultaneously (on 25 March 2023 local time), after that using UTC−02:00 as the standard time.21

IANA time zone database

Data for Denmark directly from zone.tab of the IANA time zone database. Columns marked with * are the columns from zone.tab itself.

c.c.*Coordinates*TZ*Comments*UTC offsetUTC DST offset
DK+5540+01235Europe/Copenhagen+01:00+02:00
FO+6201−00646Atlantic/Faroe+00:00+01:00
GL+7646−01840America/DanmarkshavnNational Park (east coast)+00:00+00:00
GL+7029−02158America/ScoresbysundScoresbysund/Ittoqqortoormiit−02:00−01:00
GL+6411−05144America/Nuukmost of Greenland−02:00−01:00
GLAmerica/Godthab−02:00−01:00Redirects to America/Nuuk.
GL+7634−06847America/ThuleThule/Pituffik−04:00−03:00

References

  1. [email protected]. "Metadata for monitoring activities". villumresearchstation.dk. Retrieved 2025-01-10.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) https://villumresearchstation.dk/metadata-for-monitoring-activities ↩

  2. "IANA — Time Zone Database". www.iana.org. Archived from the original on 2021-03-08. Retrieved 2020-06-17. https://www.iana.org/time-zones ↩

  3. "Act on the Determination of Time". 29 March 1893. Archived from the original on 26 March 2023. Retrieved 27 March 2023. https://www.retsinformation.dk/eli/lta/1893/83 ↩

  4. "L 19 Proposal for an Act on Danish Standard Time". Thomas Danielsen. 14 March 2023. Archived from the original on 16 March 2023. Retrieved 16 March 2023. https://www.ft.dk/samling/20222/lovforslag/l19/20222_l19_som_vedtaget.htm ↩

  5. "Proposal to Danish Standard Act" (PDF). Thomas Danielsen. 14 March 2023. Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 March 2023. Retrieved 16 March 2023. https://www.ft.dk/ripdf/samling/20222/lovforslag/l19/20222_l19_som_vedtaget.pdf ↩

  6. "IANA — Time Zone Database". www.iana.org. Archived from the original on 2021-03-08. Retrieved 2020-06-17. https://www.iana.org/time-zones ↩

  7. "IANA — Time Zone Database". www.iana.org. Archived from the original on 2021-03-08. Retrieved 2020-06-17. https://www.iana.org/time-zones ↩

  8. On Time in Greenland Archived 2023-03-02 at the Wayback Machine Time in Greenland https://calculator.date/time/greenland/ ↩

  9. On airgreenland.com Archived 2016-04-22 at the Wayback Machine search flights Ilulissat – Kangerlussuaq http://www.airgreenland.com/ ↩

  10. "IANA — Time Zone Database". www.iana.org. Archived from the original on 2021-03-08. Retrieved 2020-06-17. https://www.iana.org/time-zones ↩

  11. On airgreenland.com Archived 2016-04-22 at the Wayback Machine search flights Nuuk – Kulusuk and Kulusuk – Tasiilaq http://www.airgreenland.com/ ↩

  12. "Time Zone Clarity in Greenland". www.timeanddate.com. 2 November 2023. https://www.timeanddate.com/news/time/greenland-change-timezone-2024.html ↩

  13. "IANA — Time Zone Database". www.iana.org. Archived from the original on 2021-03-08. Retrieved 2020-06-17. https://www.iana.org/time-zones ↩

  14. "Act on the Determination of Time". 29 March 1893. Archived from the original on 26 March 2023. Retrieved 27 March 2023. https://www.retsinformation.dk/eli/lta/1893/83 ↩

  15. "IANA — Time Zone Database". www.iana.org. Archived from the original on 2021-03-08. Retrieved 2020-06-17. https://www.iana.org/time-zones ↩

  16. "IANA — Time Zone Database". www.iana.org. Archived from the original on 2021-03-08. Retrieved 2020-06-17. https://www.iana.org/time-zones ↩

  17. "L 19 Proposal for an Act on Danish Standard Time". Thomas Danielsen. 14 March 2023. Archived from the original on 16 March 2023. Retrieved 16 March 2023. https://www.ft.dk/samling/20222/lovforslag/l19/20222_l19_som_vedtaget.htm ↩

  18. "Proposal to Danish Standard Act" (PDF). Thomas Danielsen. 14 March 2023. Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 March 2023. Retrieved 16 March 2023. https://www.ft.dk/ripdf/samling/20222/lovforslag/l19/20222_l19_som_vedtaget.pdf ↩

  19. "L 19 Proposal for an Act on Danish Standard Time". Thomas Danielsen. 14 March 2023. Archived from the original on 16 March 2023. Retrieved 16 March 2023. https://www.ft.dk/samling/20222/lovforslag/l19/20222_l19_som_vedtaget.htm ↩

  20. "Proposal to Danish Standard Act" (PDF). Thomas Danielsen. 14 March 2023. Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 March 2023. Retrieved 16 March 2023. https://www.ft.dk/ripdf/samling/20222/lovforslag/l19/20222_l19_som_vedtaget.pdf ↩

  21. "Greenland Changes Time Zone". Time and Date AS. 2022-11-25. Archived from the original on 2022-12-18. Retrieved 2022-12-18. https://www.timeanddate.com/news/time/greenland-change-timezone.html ↩