Colorado power outages disrupt atomic clock in Boulder

Power Outage in Boulder Disrupts NIST Atomic Clock

Last week, Colorado experienced power outages due to hurricane-force winds sweeping across the state. In Boulder, one of these outages caused a temporary halt in time at the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Internet Time Service Facility.

The facility’s atomic clock, which plays a crucial role in precise timekeeping for various industries like GPS satellite networks, laboratories, and telecommunications, was affected by the power outage. According to NIST spokesperson Rebecca Jacobson, the outage caused a four-microsecond delay to the atomic clock before the backup generator kicked in.

NIST researcher Jeffrey Sherman explained in an email to users that the outage resulted in a failure of the atomic ensemble time scale at the Boulder campus, leading to inaccurate time references for the Boulder Internet Time Services.

Despite facing challenges with a crucial generator failing after the outage, power was finally restored to the Boulder Department of Commerce, where NIST is located, on Sunday evening. The staff was able to correct the time drift and ensure that all NIST services were back up and running.

This incident serves as a reminder of the importance of reliable power sources for critical infrastructure like atomic clocks, which are essential for various technological systems.

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