Underwater telecom cables make superb seismic network
Sunday, December 1, 2019 - 16:50
in Earth & Climate
Photonic systems can transform underwater fiber-optic cables into a dense network of seismic stations to illuminate ocean-floor earthquake zones impossible to study today, according to a new study. The scientists turned 20 kilometers of cable around the underwater San Gregorio Fault system in Monterey Bay into an array of some 10,000 seismic sensors by interferometrically measuring backscattered light caused by strain along the cable.