Google uses the undersea cable network to detect earthquakes and tsunamis

Google LLC is exploring the possibility of using its network of submarine cables to try to detect earthquakes as they happen in real time, with the aim of providing a better early warning system for communities threatened by tsunamis.

In today’s blog post, Google’s global network engineers Valey Kamalov and Mattia Cantono have stated that the company operates a comprehensive system of undersea fiber optic cables spanning thousands of kilometers across the sea floor.

These cables carry data in the form of light pulses traveling at a speed of 204,190 km per second, which makes it possible to send and receive information about the world at the speed of light. But it can also be used to monitor the ocean floor for “mechanical disturbances” that could indicate an earthquake.

Google knows when disturbances occur because the pulsed light traveling through its cables under the sea usually encounters distortions that must be corrected by processing digital signals as soon as they reach their destination.

“One of the properties of light that is traced as part of the optical transmission is the polarization state (SOP),” Kamalov and Cantono wrote. “SOP changes in response to mechanical disturbances along the cable and tracking these disturbances enables us to detect seismic activity.”

The basic premise is that when an earthquake occurs, Google’s underwater cables can pick up vibrations when the earth vibrates beneath them. Google has already proven this theory accurate. In 2019, she began observing SOP on some of its submarine cables as an experiment, and noticed that the ocean floor was “remarkably stable” for most of the time.

But after several months of watching and waiting, something happened.

“On January 28, 2020, we detected a 7.7 magnitude earthquake off Jamaica – 1,500 kilometers from the closest point to one of our cables!” Google engineers wrote. “The SOP plot over time showed a clear rise in time stamp approximately five minutes after the earthquake, which is related to the time of seismic wave transmission from Jamaica to the cable, and the duration of the elevation was about 10 minutes.”

Google detected seismic activity based on polarization status

Google continued to watch and discovered two more earthquakes. On March 22th, it pinpointed a 6.1-magnitude earthquake in the eastern Pacific Ocean, a series in the middle of the ocean located on the Pacific Ocean floor, about 2,000 kilometers from a cable. Then, on March 28, he discovered another 4.5-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Valparaiso, Chile, which was only 30 kilometers from one of its cables.

Kamalov and Cantono said: “The event produced a clear but short spike for SOP activity – the short duration is likely due to the rapid decay in the intensity of the vibration along the cable for this relatively small event.”

Google shared its results with Zhongwen Zhan of the California Institute of Seismic Technology, who realized that data could also be used to detect pressure changes in the same ocean. This, in turn, can be used to predict the possibility of a tsunami as a result of an earthquake.

This is an exciting find because most tsunami early warning systems are not very effective. The problem is that most of this equipment is located on the beach, or spread across the ocean. Onshore equipment does not provide enough time for evacuation, and beach detection systems are limited due to the tsunami speed, which can reach 800 km per hour.

But if a Google undersea cable is run near the epicenter, it might theoretically transmit a warning at the speed of light, which means that those in the tsunami path will be given enough time to evacuate. Another advantage of the proposed Google system is that the infrastructure already exists, as millions of kilometers of fiber optic networks already extend to the ocean floor.

Of course, Google said there is still a long way to go before anyone creates a suitable work system that people can rely on, but still enthusiastic about the potential.

“We do not see this approach as an alternative to custom seismic sensors, but rather as a source of complementary information to enable early warnings of earthquakes and tsunamis,” said Kamalov and Cantono.

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