You are currently viewing Google Is Working On A New Earthquake Detection System Using Submarine Cables

Google Is Working On A New Earthquake Detection System Using Submarine Cables

According to a blog post from the search engine giant, Google thinks it is possible to detect an earthquake with submarine cables. The company conducted a recent research that makes it think this is possible, here are some interesting details about it.

 

Google says that it conducted an experiment using its existing ‘subsea fiber optic cables’. With this early detection, warnings about earthquakes and tsunamis can come faster and earlier.

 

What the company is doing is increasing the effectiveness of optical fiber sensing from 100 kilometres to up to tens of thousands of kilometres. Since Google’s improved technique is using existing fiber optic systems; it will eradicate the time and cost strain of creating new specialised ones.

 

Initially, in 2013, the company had looked at the possibility of using state of polarization (SOP) data to better deviations detected on a land-based terrestrial cable. This proved too complicated because environmental factors caused too much disruption.

 

However, in 2018, following a publication that a research team had been able to detect earthquakes using both terrestrial and subsea links; Google started thinking of how they might use their subsea cables to help detect seismic data.

Also read:
– Uyghurs For Sale: Australian Group Fingers Amazon, Google And Apple In Forced Labour Scandal
– Google Is Giving Out 100,000 Scholarships In Online Certificates
– Zebra Technologies Announces Military-Grade Durable ZQ500 Mobile Printers Series

Ordinarily, subsea optical fiber cables carry data as pulses of light. As they travel over thousands of kilometres, they come across distortions. A digital signal processing corrects these distortions.

 

The state of polarization (SOP) is one of the major properties of light that the digital signal processing works on. This is because it changes in response to mechanical disturbance as it passes through the cable. These disturbances are products of seismic activity or earthquakes or tremors.

 

Google says that in October 2019, its research team decided that they could detect an earthquake using spectral signatures. This means using Stokes parameters to perform spectral analysis.

 

It began monitoring SOP in its submarine cables in 2019. Noting of note occurred until 28th January 2020 when the researchers detected an earthquake off of Jamaica. They plotted SOP over time and the graph showed a spike.

 

In addition, Google says using its submarine cables detected other earthquakes in 2020. One was along the floor of the Pacific Ocean and another near Mexico and then Chile as well.

 

While these are just early beginnings, it is a sign that it is possible to detect earthquakes using subsea fiber optic cables. In fact, Google says that subsea cables can potentially detect pressure changes in the ocean, which is an early sign of a Tsunami.

 

For your daily dose of tech, lifestyle, and trending content, make sure to follow Plat4om on Twitter @Plat4omLive, on Instagram @Plat4om, on LinkedIn at Plat4om, and on Facebook at Plat4om. You can also email us at info@plat4om.com and join our channel on Telegram at Plat4om. Finally, don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel HERE.

Onwuasoanya Obinna

A reader of books and stringer of words. Passionate about Science and Tech. When not writing or reading he is surfing the web and Tweeting.

Leave a Reply