An Australian scientist has revealed an innovative business proposition for the submarine cable sector: allow their subsea cables could be used to track climate change.
John Yuzhu You, a research associate from the University of Sydney's Institute of Marine Science, says the dozens of submarine cables on the floor of the world's oceans could be used to monitor currents, seismology and sea temperatures.
"Since the first submarine communication cable was laid across the English Channel in 1850, more than a million kilometres of telecommunications cables have been laid on the ocean floor," he said in a statement published on the Institute of Marine Science website. "The result is a valuable network that can provide information about the world's oceans."
In a paper published in the August 2010 issue of Nature magazine, You described how water sloshing around a subsea fiber cable generates an electromagnetic current that could be measured by voltmeters at cable landing stations.
"Electrical signals from the cables can yield information about the water they run through and cables can be used to provide power to and transmit data from observatories on the sea floor," he said.
Voltmeters, which cost around A$3,000 ($2,700), could become a long-term source of data, said You.
You and other oceanographers plan to use cables to monitor the Indonesian Throughflow, a current that runs between the Pacific and Indian Oceans, according to a report in iTnews. You and his colleagues hope to establish a global cable network that monitors the world's oceans.