Researchers are testing fiber optic cable on the sea floor as an earthquake early warning system

Weather of Arabia - In light of the rapid developments in the field of technology, studies and research continue to search for new and innovative solutions to confront natural challenges. In this context, a team of researchers is working on testing fiber-optic wires on the seabed as an innovative early warning system for earthquakes. This new step reflects... Scientific ambition is to achieve important goals, as effective marine infrastructure is used as a means of monitoring and early warning, which contributes to enhancing human capabilities to respond to natural disasters.

Fiber optic cables as a seismic system

Earthquake early warning (EEW) systems face a major challenge resulting from the lack of seismic stations in densely populated coastal areas that experience intense seismic activity. In a new study published in The Seismic Record, researchers have presented an innovative idea where submarine fiber optic cables could be converted Not used for communications purposes to EEW systems freely.

Taking advantage of a 50-kilometer submarine cable running between the United States and Chile, the researchers collected seismic data from 8,960 points along the cable for four days, and used distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) technology, which relies on exploiting the internal properties of long optical fibers as seismic sensors.

By analyzing the data, the researchers were able to identify the locations of the earthquakes and estimate their magnitude, including an onshore earthquake of magnitude 3.7 and two offshore earthquakes of magnitudes 2.7 and 3.3 during the study period .

The results showed that using a single DAS array can improve the early warning time for earthquakes by about three seconds compared to land-based DAS arrays. Through a simulation, the researchers discovered that by deploying multiple DAS arrays 50 kilometers apart and cooperating in an area, alert times for EEW systems in an area can be improved. Subduction by five seconds.

How can submarine cables be exploited to enhance earthquake early warning systems?

Chile's marine region is similar to that of Canada's Cascadia Marine region and the United States' Pacific Northwest, each of which contains active subduction zones. In these regions, tectonic plates collide, and one plate sinks beneath the other, causing some The largest and most destructive earthquakes in history, and it was noted that the coastal areas with high population density in these areas enable early warning of marine earthquakes, which plays an important role in protecting lives and property.

Where the researchers said:

“Although we expected some improvements due to placing the DAS array offshore, the actual speed gains were beyond our initial expectations.”

They also added:

“The main advantage is the offshore location of the array, which eliminates the need to wait for seismic waves to reach ground stations.

Distributed acoustic sensing

Researcher Jioxun Yin, from the California Institute of Technology, and his colleagues studied 50 kilometers of submarine communications cable extending between the United States and Chile and collected seismic data samples across 8,960 channels over a period of more than 4 days.

The researchers took advantage of a technique known as "distributed acoustic sensing," which relies on exploiting tiny defects in long optical fibers to create efficient seismic sensors.

According to the press release issued on the "Phys.org" website, the researchers took advantage of the cable data to determine the locations of earthquakes and estimate the strength of the earthquakes, including a land earthquake (magnitude 3.7) and two marine earthquakes (magnitude 2.7 and 3.3) during a period The study and their results showed that using a single array of distributed acoustic sensors led to an estimated improvement of about 3 seconds in earthquake early warning compared to acoustic sensors distributed on land.

What is the reason behind choosing fiber optic cables as an earthquake early warning system?

Dr. Yin, one of the researchers in this study, explains that the main reason behind choosing this submarine cable is the high risk of earthquakes in Chile, pointing out the frequency of marine earthquakes in the region and its influence by previous large earthquakes with a magnitude exceeding 8 on the Richter scale, including the largest earthquake ever recorded. In 1960; He stressed that a reliable early warning system for marine earthquakes in Chile is necessary based on the high risks of earthquakes and their potentially devastating effects.

Artificial intelligence for deep learning

The researchers relied on a deep learning AI model that was trained and validated using previous seismic and DAS data to capture earthquake waves through this submarine cable. Dr. Yin explained that in the case of DAS, the amount of data collected is large, and for real-time seismic applications such as EEW. ,Pre-trained deep learning models provide an efficient and ,reliable option.

The researchers noted that more data, especially from large-magnitude earthquakes, is needed to effectively develop and test EEW algorithms , as well as the need for more information about how DAS instruments respond before building a real-time EEW system that integrates with existing EEW frameworks. .

Dr. Yin pointed out that there are many places around the world where this research can be continued, as there are more than 1,500 wiring stations around the world, and advances in technology allow the use of operational cables and the addition of DAS systems without affecting the transmission of communications data, and he expressed their willingness to explore Additional research opportunities and collaboration with cable owners, environmental agencies, and policy industry to expand the scope of DAS-EEW to benefit coastal communities.

This high-tech technology represents a qualitative leap in the field of studying and predicting earthquakes, as it allows scientists to obtain accurate and immediate data that helps them better understand geological phenomena and earthquakes, which paves the way for taking preventive and precautionary measures on a larger scale, as this study works to expand the horizons of scientific research. And practical applications of modern technology, and contribute to enhancing the ability to better adapt to environmental challenges, which embodies the continuous efforts of scientists in building a safer and more sustainable future.

Also know:

Can a natural disaster cause another natural disaster?

The most famous earthquakes that struck Jordan

Sources:

newswise

aljazeera