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EMERGING SUBSEA NETWORKS:    The ITU/WMO/UNESCO-IOC Joint Task Force on   ITU standardization continues to tackle disaster relief, network



 NEW MARKET OPPORTUNITIES FOR, AND SOCIETAL CONTRIBUTIONS FROM,    SMART* Cable Systems is leading an ambitious new   resilience and recovery, recognizing that the 21st century is
        project to equip submarine communications cables                  playing host to an increasing prevalence of extreme weather
 SMART CABLE SYSTEMS  with climate and hazard-monitoring sensors.         events.

        The project aims to create a global observation network           ITU standards include technical mechanisms to ensure the
 Christopher Barnes* (University of Victoria), David Meldrum (Scottish Marine Institute), and Hiroshi Ota (International Telecommunication Union)
 Email: crbarnes@uvic.ca  capable of providing earthquake and tsunami warnings as well   prioritization of emergency calls, and ITU members continue
 *School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of Victoria, P.O. Box 1700, Victoria, BC V8W 2Y2, Canada; and Chair, ITU/WMO/IOC-UNESCO Joint Task Force
        as data on ocean climate change and circulation. These new        to develop new standards to improve the resilience of ICT
        ‘green cables’ would collect data of great value to the scientific   networks to natural disasters and assist the recovery of
 ABSTRACT:   community, as well industries such as fisheries and energy.  communications capabilities when disaster strikes.
 The subsea telecommunications cable industry has the opportunity to enter a new era with the emergence of game-changing dual-purpose cable systems. These SMART cables will incorporate small external
 sensor packages to transmit real-time environmental data without any impact on commercial traffic. The sensors will precisely measure temperature, pressure and three-axis acceleration across the world’s ocean
 floor on a sustained basis in response to an increasing international need to monitor and mitigate climate and sea-level change and radically improve tsunami hazard warnings. SMART cable systems will provide
 new market opportunities, engage non-traditional users, and make profound societal contributions.
 1




   A CHANGING ECONOMY AND THE INTERNET REVOLUTION  “  The project to equip submarine cables with climate and
 The recent emergence, evolution, and dominance of hardware, software and communication   2
 companies has driven rapid change in Internet-enabled commerce. How does this affect the   hazard-monitoring sensors may take some years to bring
 subsea telecommunications industry?
  Over 200 operating fiber optic undersea cables carry 95% of the transoceanic voice and data      AN UNEXPLOITED COMMERCIALIZATION OPPORTUNITY  to fruition, but ITU, WMO and UNESCO-IOC have taken the
 traffic.   Urgent societal need for real-time environmental data can be met by developing and
  Demand has been for additional cables, improved multiplexing, and faster communication.   marketing SMART (“green”, “dual-purpose”) cables (SMART = Science Monitoring And Resilient   first bold steps towards the realization of this goal, and the
  Underwater cables carried 51 billion gigabytes/month in 2013 – projected to be 132 billion   Telecommunications).
                                                                        journey is most certainly underway.
 gigabytes by 2017.   Subsea telecommunications industry can exploit a new era of opportunity and   Chris Barnes, former Chair, ITU-WMO-UNESCO IOC Joint Task Force on Smart Cable System”
 commercialization by progressively building a subsea cable network, equipped with sensors
 3   This SMART cable concept is advocated by Joint Task Force (JTF) of the UN’s International
 delivering key real-time environmental data (climate and sea level change, and warnings for
 tsunamis and submarine slope failures).
 Telecommunication Union (ITU), the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), and
 SMART SUBSEA CABLE SYSTEMS  Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO.
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 The concept is to add three key environmental sensors to repeaters along new or refurbished
 trans-ocean or regional cable systems (temperature, pressure and three-axis acceleration).
  These are already marketed, proven and deployed on scientific cabled ocean observatories:
 NEPTUNE (British Columbia to 2700m), DONET (eastern Honshu, Japan to 4000m); OOI’s Cabled
 Array (Washington/Oregon to 2900m); and ALOHA Observatory (Hawaii, to 4800m).
  Sensors are small, reliable, operate down to 7000m; can operate fault-free for more than a
 decade; no maintenance or replacement after deployment.
  Real-time data return is key in using pressure sensor data for tsunami hazard warnings.
 4
  Data return is only about 30kb/s per sensor location and can be via supervisory channel or
 dedicated wavelength/fiber to avoid interference with primary data transmission.

    NEW ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIETAL IMPERATIVES
 Ocean climate change, sea level rise, and tsunami/slope failure hazards represent major threats,
 with profound global and regional socio-economic impacts.
  Advances in sensor technologies, cabled ocean observatories, and partnerships with the subsea
 telecommunications industry, combine to favour new SMART Cable Systems in providing critical
 environmental data on regional and global scales.
 5  save vast resources from destruction.
  These developments address global issues affecting societies and future generations, and can


 SMART INTERNATIONAL LEADERSHIP BY THE SUBSEA   A. CLIMATE CHANGE
 TELECOMMUNICATIONS INDUSTRY  Climate change is the most serious issue facing humankind during this century.
  Progressive increase in atmospheric CO2 (now exceeding 400ppm), methane, and mean global
 Successful industries respond to changing societal needs and commercial opportunities, with   temperatures has prompted serious warnings of natural and societal consequences.
 smart companies investing ahead of the curve.    Failure to mitigate and adapt to climate change is the greatest threat facing the world’s
  Profound societal and economic implications of future climate/sea level change and the scale of   economy (World Economic Forum, 2016).
 tsunami hazards, demand an urgent need to understand and quantify these threats.    UNFCCC COP21 climate summit (2015) achieved the Paris Agreement. 195 members agreed to
  For the industry, this means adoption and rapid implementation of SMART cable systems.  reduce carbon output to keep global warming to below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels.
 Oceans are the main controlling factor in climate change, holding much of the heat and
      A.  NEW MARKET OPPORTUNITIES  greenhouse gases, with a complex circulation system.
  However, key data are unavailable or sparse for the deep oceans.
 SMART cable systems with sensor components will generate value-added, real-time, critically
 needed, environmental data (T, P, Accel.).   Real-time bottom temperatures via SMART cable sensors are urgently needed to understand
 the complex conveyer belt systems operating through all oceans.
  Incremental cost is estimated at 5-8% of a trans-ocean cable system, with no change in
 deployment methods, and no ongoing maintenance.
  Possible NRE expenses may depend on the R&D status for any particular company.
  The JTF Wet Demonstrator project will develop a generic system, deliver proof-of-concept, and
 reduce or eliminate such expenses.


 B. SEA LEVEL RISE
 One consequence of warming oceans is global sea level rise, varying regionally.
  This rise is generated by melting polar ice-caps and glaciers, and ocean thermal expansion.
  IPCC (2013) estimated a rise of c. 90cm by 2100, but this may be conservative.
 B. ENGAGING NON-TRADITIONAL USERS   Sea level rise is critically significant to low-lying countries (e.g. Maldives, Bangladesh,
 Netherlands), causing large population migrations and massive costs infrastructure costs.
 Marketing SMART cable systems will engage a wide range of potential new non-traditional users.
  Monitoring by SMART cable sensors will capture real-time changes throughout ocean basins
  Increasing environmental and economic threats facing the planet require more precise, real-  over decades for long-term monitoring and help to calibrate satellite gravity data.
 time, ocean environmental and hazard data for evidence-based decisions, advice and policies
 - by government agencies, insurance and re-insurance companies, port authorities, cruise ship
 companies, city planners, emergency/disaster organizations, ENGOs, etc..
  Government agencies (e.g. NOAA and USGS) are responsible for generating, analyzing, and
 distributing climate, earthquake, and tsunami data. Recently, US House and Senate gave
 unanimous support for the Tsunami Warning, and Education, and Research Act of 2015, which
 encourages the use of sensors on Federal and commercial submarine telecommunication cables.
  How will the subsea telecommunications industry seize this opportunity?
 C.  HAZARD MITIGATION (TSUNAMIS AND SLOPE FAILURES)
 6  A dozen major tsunamis in just the last decade (Indonesia (2004), American Samoa and Tonga
 (2009), Chile (2010, 2015), Haiti (2010), Japan (2011) and Solomon Islands (2013)) have caused
 hundreds of thousands of deaths and destroyed infrastructure in the billions of dollars.
 SUMMARY   SMART cable systems will generate real-time data across ocean basins and coastal areas,
 dramatically improving early warning systems, mitigating loss of life, damage, and costs.
 Climate change (including sea level change) is recognized as the most serious issue for the economy and    Scientific observatories with SMART sensor networks are now established in tsunami and slope
 societies well-being in the 21st century (World Economic Forum; IPCC; COP21).   failure hazard areas in NE and NW Pacific, and in European/Mediterranean seas.
  The cost and loss of life and infrastructure from major earthquakes, tsunamis, and submarine slope failures
 have devastated many regions.
  Many sectors (government/UN agencies, insurance industry, coastal and port authorities, etc.) are
 desperate for real-time scientific data for their decision and policy making.
 The subsea telecommunications industry provides cable systems for high-speed data transmission and
 worldwide communications. With the Digital Age and a host of new digital devices, the industry plays a vital
 role in installing and maintaining innovative subsea cable networks.
  Industry can forge a new era by developing SMART (Science Monitoring And Resilient
 Telecommunications) cable systems with sensors (T, P, three-axis Accel) on repeaters, with no special
 deployment and no maintenance.
  Real-time data can be transmitted over decades via supervisory or equivalent channels, to address key
 climate issues of deep ocean circulation (conveyor belt changes, tipping points, warming, impact of polar
 ice-cap melting).   7
  Progressive installation of SMART cables would dramatically enhance the current tsunami warning
 capability, augmenting the vandal-prone DART buoys and coastal tide gauges with a global real-time,
 reliable, high-precision network.  REFERENCES
 Marketing the new SMART cable systems is essential by industry, with advocacy by ICPC and ITU, WMO, IOC-  Details of 35 supporting references are given for this paper in Proceedings of
 UNESCO, and their Joint Task Force (JTF).   BLUE  SubOptic2016.
  Industry should increase its marketing reach to non-traditional users: agencies and sectors that desperately
 need these key environmental data for decision and policy making to address severe environmental
 threats facing the society and the planet in the 21st century.
 How and when will the subsea telecommunications industry fully recognize, reinvent, and respond to this
 challenge?









 Joint Task Force
  on green cables systems
 Poster_2016-396375_160x80.indd   1  12/04/2016   15:54:41
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