Question = Zulu time

[J Miller]

I have heard the term Zulu time a bunch lately. Looked it up and all I could understand is that it was either Greenwich Mean Time or based on it. But I could not grasp how it was used or determined.

Can someone put it into mid last century American so I can understand Zulu Time?

TIA

Joe

[sore shoulder]

It's an international time zone. It's zero. Zulu is the military version. Eastern standard time is -4:00 GMT.

[J Miller]

sore shoulder,

I guess I'm just dense as a rock. I know about GMT -4 as that's were we are. But how do I do that military Zulu time? I can't grasp it. Do I have to join the Marines to figure it out ....

Joe

[jnyork]

Joe, it's the standard time used by the military and is the same worldwide. For instance, if it's 0630 Zulu in Afganistan, it's also 0630 Zulu in San Francisco or Guam or India. Has nothing to do with local time, in fact it is used so folks don't have to convert local time in Afganistan to local time in SF, Guam or India. Using Zulu time, military operations spanning two or more local time zones can be much more efficiently coordinated.

[cas]

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/timezone/zulu

[J Miller]

Thanks, I'm beginning to understand it. I'll be checking out the site to see what it teaches.


Joe

[cas]

It's just a zulu clock.

[Beaker]

Basically it is Greenwich Mean Time. The more modern and technical term used now is Coordinated Universal Time or UTC. It is easier for the military, air traffic control, weather services, etc. to use one common time around the globe.

[Grizz]

It's the ZERO meridian. Because a British clockmaker built the first accurate and reliable chronometer which allowed them to navigate to very precise tolerances, the Brits got to establish the prime meridian.

Zulu time is actually the distance from Greenwich, England. If a navigator knows with persistant accuracy the time at the zero meridian, Zulu time, the position of stars at the ship's or surveyor's location will enable an accurate calculation of the longitude. Knowing latitude and crossing the two fixes position.

Gps does it now by parsing seconds into 8 or 10 subdivisions, enabling fixes to be inside the size of a car.

[mark]

A truly excellent question and responses.

A book about Harrison and his development of a practical marine chronometer is available.

The author is Dava Sobel and the title of the book, "Longitude".

Captain James Cook took one of Harrison's early chronometers on his circumnavigation of the globe.

Cheers Mark

[Rusty]

Zulu = GMT = UTC

All the same.

[Grizz]

A truly excellent question and responses.

A book about Harrison and his development of a practical marine chronometer is available.

The author is Dava Sobel and the title of the book, "Longitude".

Captain James Cook took one of Harrison's early chronometers on his circumnavigation of the globe.

Cheers Mark

Yeah that's a good read. The chronometer also aided the expansion of the British Empire by enabling a new degree of precision mapping. The story of the British Expedition to map and measure Mount Everest is amazing. Now a satellite and computers do it.

[handirifle]

Just think that if you are a military leader and have to plan a mission. The boots on the ground tell you the bad guys is going to be "available" at around 0800Z. Said military leader then knows exactly what time it is (cause he has a clock set to Z time) and how much time he has to coordinate with others if necessary, and still give them time to execute the mission (or the bad guy).

[Leverluver]

All the times that are used in aviation (when you are leaving, when you are arriving, when you will over what check point) are in Zulu time. Just got back into aviation as an old retired fanny burp. I just got my tail dragger sign off and will be leaving the Boise area for home (WY) in a day or two.....over the northern Tetons no less. Spent the morning flying the mountains of ID and coming back flying the Boise river canyon. A good day to be alive.

[cas]

A truly excellent question and responses.

A book about Harrison and his development of a practical marine chronometer is available.

The author is Dava Sobel and the title of the book, "Longitude".

Captain James Cook took one of Harrison's early chronometers on his circumnavigation of the globe.

Cheers Mark

I always assume Sobel was friends with a professor here, because the book was required reading for some class... and because of that I've seen hundreds of copies of Longitude thrown away over the years.
I finally grabbed one to read a few years back. It's a fascinating story, one of those things you don't really think about until you do. The only down side to the book is it runs out of "story" before you're half way through. Still a good read. I wished I'd saved more copies, for years they were everywhere, now I don't see them anymore.

[JB]

Zulu time

[J Miller]

Lose the feathers and fur and those guys look a lot like my neighbors.



Joe

[Grandpa Ron]

For most of history time was simple. Noon was when the sun was overhead. The next time the sun was overhead was considered one day. The day was divided into 24 hour. So the earth was divided into 24 time zones. So far so good.

When it is necessary for people around the world in different time zones to do something at the same time, they pick a specific hour in a specific time zone as the reference point. By world wide consensus that reference point is Greenwich England. Greenwich time GMT is also called UTC and Zulu.

So if I tell the world that I am going to post some shooting information on the internet at 10:00 GMT, UTC or Zulu; they can look at a world time chart and know what time it will be at their house when I do the post.

[J Miller]

It took a bit, but I now understand it. For some years now I've been using a program called "Qlock" to put a series of clocks on my desk top. I just added on for Greenwich, UK. So now I know what time it is Zulu.

Joe

[JohndeFresno]

[ Large photo ]
Zulu time

JB,
Which one has the watch??

[J Miller]

[ Large photo ]
Zulu time

JB,
Which one has the watch??

The taller ones. They can see farther ...

Joe