Grytviken, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands · UTC-2 ☆

Grytviken is in the South Georgia Time timezone (GST/UTC-2), year-round with no daylight saving.

Grytviken is the main settlement of South Georgia, a remote British Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic. It runs on South Georgia Time, UTC-2, year-round. No daylight saving.

The population fluctuates between a handful of British Antarctic Survey researchers and government officials. In the height of the tourist season, cruise ships bring visitors to see the fur seals, elephant seals, and the grave of Ernest Shackleton, who died here in 1922 and is buried in the small cemetery above the harbor.

The whaling station and industrial time

Grytviken operated as a whaling station from 1904 to 1965. During its peak years in the early twentieth century, it processed thousands of whales annually and employed hundreds of workers. Industrial time keeping, shift schedules, and production targets governed daily life in one of the most extreme environments on Earth.

The rusting machinery of the old station still stands. The manager’s house, the church, and the cinema are preserved.

54 South and the Antarctic light

South Georgia sits at 54 degrees South latitude, roughly the same distance from the equator as London is in the north, but in the opposite hemisphere. Daylight variation is dramatic: long summer days and short winter days, but reversed from the Northern Hemisphere. Midwinter in Grytviken is June and July. The UTC-2 offset means solar noon falls around 12:15pm.

Convert 9am Grytviken time to other cities.

Sources

• IANA Time Zone Database
• Government of South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands
• Headland, Robert. The Island of South Georgia. Cambridge University Press, 1984.