Many countries throughout the world are in tsunami danger zones. But what if residents could get advanced warning before a flood hits their island homes? The United Nations is working on a solution, spearheading an initiative to equip new telecom-owned underwater fiber-optic cables with simple sensors to transmit early tsunami warnings on land, reported MIT Technology Review.
The Joint Task Force for Science Monitoring and Reliable Telecommunications (SMART) Subsea Cables aims to measure pressure, acceleration, and temperature via the sensors attached to the cable’s signal repeaters. The equipment could amplify signals every 30 miles and transfer data to scientists “at an unprecedented scale.” This technology could allow for tsunami predictions faster than currently possible, reported MIT Technology Review.
Although the concept isn’t novel, getting the telecom industry on board has been challenging, according to SMART task force chair Bruce Howe (University of Hawaii). Part of the challenge, according to Howe, is that a repeater needs to be pressurized against conditions miles underwater. Adding external sensors that must be powered by—and communicate with—the repeater complicates the design. However, a new prototype is changing the game.
According to MIT Technology Review, Subsea Data Systems, a startup with funding from the US National Science Foundation, built a prototype repeater scheduled for its “wet” debut off the coast of Sicily. Others are getting behind the concept as well. Alcatel recently announced it would have SMART cable technology ready by 2025. Portugal plans to begin work on CAM, a SMART cable project to connect Lisbon with the islands of Madeira and the Azores, a $160 million project. The European Union has designated over $106 million for digital connectivity infrastructure, including undersea cable projects.
The alerts regarding a pending natural disaster could give residents of earthquake and tsunami-prone geographies extra time to prepare when minutes or even seconds matter. A SMART cable could extend that time to 12 minutes, according to new modeling by the task force. “This is a first step in achieving a long-term vision of instrumenting the ocean seafloor for climate and early-warning purposes,” says Howe. “This is the first time the deep ocean would be sort of opened up in this way.”
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