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Abstract:
The Joint Task Force, Science Monitoring And Reliable Telecommunications
(SMART) Subsea Cables is working to integrate environmental sensors (temperature,
pressure, seismic acceleration) into submarine telecommunications cables.
This will support climate and ocean observation, sea-level monitoring, observations
of Earth structure, tsunami and earthquake early warning, and disaster risk
reduction. Recent advances include regional SMART pilot systems that are the
initial steps to trans-ocean and global implementation. Building on the
OceanObs’19 conference and community white paper (https://doi.org/10.3389/
fmars.2019.00424), this paper presents an overview of the initiative and a
description of ongoing projects including: InSea wet demonstration project off
Sicily; Vanuatu and New Caledonia; Indonesia; CAM-2 ring system connecting
the Portuguese mainland, Azores, and Madeira; New Zealand; and Antarctica. In
addition to the diverse scientific and societal benefits, the telecommunications
industry’s mission of societal connectivity will also benefit because
environmental awareness improves both individual cable system integrity and
the resilience of the overall global communications network.
Keywords: telecommunication cables, SMART sensors, seafloor sensing, earthquake
early warning, tsunami detection
