The countdown in anticipation of the New Year will last a moment longer than in years past -- by one second to be exact.

A "leap second" will be added to 2008, making it the longest year in more than a decade, thanks to the leap day that was already added back in February.

The extra time will be squeezed in between 6:59 p.m. and 7 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Wednesday.

Most of the world's time, known as Co-ordinated Universal Time (UTC), is kept by atomic clocks. Atomic clocks are so precise and consistent, that they need to be manually adjusted in order to better align with the earth's astronomical clock, or the sun's cycle.

And as it turns out, the global economy wasn't the only thing to slow down in 2008, so too did the Earth's rotation.

The cumulative spin of the Earth over the past three years, or about 1,000 days, has been one second slower than the atomic clock, Allen told ctv.ca in a telephone interview from California on Wednesday.

Tacking on the extra second will help ensure the sun reaches its highest point in the sky at roughly 12 noon local time.

Some scientists have argued the atomic clock should be followed strictly, down to the nanosecond and without manual manipulation. But that isn't a viable option, argued Steve Allen, an analyst at the University of California at Santa Cruz's Lick Observatory.

"I think that keeping the sun near overhead at 12 o'clock for our great-great-great-great grandchildren also has value," Allen said.

If leap seconds were not used, we'd have to consider changing internationally recognized time zones in as little as 600 years, he said.

This isn't the first time scientists have tinkered with the seconds hand on the clock. A leap second was last added back in 2005, and it's been done sporadically since 1972.

And while an extra second may mean little more than a slightly delayed kiss this New Year's, extra time can be problematic for time-sensitive computer software.

UTC is used to keep time for most communications mediums such as broadcast signals, GPS navigation and the Internet.

"There is a definite problem with leap seconds and the way that machines have been told to pretend they don't exist," Allen said.

Most cellular phone providers and computer operating systems however do check with the world's atomic clocks and can accommodate the leap second if programmed to do so.

Wait a sec, is it legit?

Wednesday's leap second will be the first to be officially recognized in Canada, although Quebec is really the only province to formally adopt UTC, as far as Allen could tell.

The other provinces still officially abide by Greenwich Mean Time, even though they don't prohibit UTC from being used.

"In a sense the number of seconds legally elapsed in Quebec as of tonight will have become one more than the number legally elapsed everywhere else in Canada," he said.

You can watch Allen's global leap second countdown by using the web link provided on the right-hand side.

Leap seconds aren't planned too far in advance since the Earth's exact rotation is unpredictable. Everything from the tides to weather patterns can affect the Earth's wobble, thereby slowing down or speeding up the planet's rotation.

"Canada's Bay of Fundy tides are infamous," Allen said, adding they can significantly impact the Earth's wobble.

In Canada, the official timekeeper is the Ottawa-based National Research Council, which build and maintains our cesium atomic clocks.

Leap seconds aren't always added on Dec. 31 either. They can be added on June 30.

So how will Allen spend his extra second this year?

"Listening to it with my daughters on a shortwave radio," he said.

At 6:59:59 they'll hear not one, but two, blank second markers.