Flash Film/Getty Images Internet cables become seismic sensors on land, under the sea and eventually on the Moon. Millions of miles of fiber optic cables already cover the Earth, including approximately 920,000 miles of undersea cables on the ocean floor. As some of the oldest cables are removed from the ocean and new cables are laid, scientists are increasingly tracking natural hazards such as earthquakes, volcanoes and floods along this global network. Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) uses laser pulses to read minute changes in vibration, stress, ground motion, and water movement. Traditional seismometers measure ground movement at an isolated point. A fiber optic cable can act as a continuous sensor over a wider area, collecting high-resolution real-time data, and the Grindavík volcanic eruption in Iceland showed how the technology can help track hazards beyond earthquakes. The US National Science Foundation reported that the system issued a warning 26 minutes before the eruption, giving nearby residents time to evacuate. The Caltech researchers also proved the power of the monitoring system. They operated an approximately 62-mile section of fiber optic cable, collecting data equivalent to 10,000 traditional seismometers. Their findings could have a huge impact on seismic monitoring at a much lower cost than traditional systems. There are more than 700 seismometers in California, each costing up to $50,000. A DAS system needs a $200,000 interrogator to send laser light pulses across miles of cable. The same approach could prove useful for underwater seismic monitoring, which is becoming even more expensive and difficult. In the Canary Islands, researchers transformed an underwater telecommunications cable into 11,968 strain sensors over about 75 miles. The DAS system detected local and regional earthquakes as well as seismic waves from ocean earthquakes thousands of kilometers away. How the same technology could detect moonquakes Naim uddin Identifier 6667907/Shutterstock The same technology could be headed to space, as researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory propose using fiber optic cables to detect moonquakes. The cables could be unwound for miles across the Moon’s surface. Researchers suggest there may be no need to bury the cables after testing signal clarity in a lab using crushed basalt to simulate the moon’s surface. The same cables deployed as seismic sensors could one day support communications for lunar missions. The Moon does not have the type of tectonic plates that shake Earth’s fault lines, causing most earthquakes. Moonquakes are instead triggered by forces such as Earth’s gravitational pull and meteorite impacts. Additionally, scientists say the moon’s surface is even colder than we initially thought, falling below -410 degrees Fahrenheit at night and heating up to 250 degrees Fahrenheit during the day. These temperature fluctuations cause the surface to expand and contract, thereby increasing the Moon’s seismic activity. Scientists believe that understanding the seismic waves caused by this activity will help them learn more about what’s inside the moon, such as its density, composition, and whether it contains liquid. If scientists discover faults, it could indicate that the Moon is more geologically active than previously thought. In 2019, researchers used moonquake data to infer that the size of the natural satellite was decreasing. However, additional moonquake data could reveal new information about the moon’s formation. Post navigation Why do submarines use red lights at night?
Flash Film/Getty Images Internet cables become seismic sensors on land, under the sea and eventually on the Moon. Millions of miles of fiber optic cables already cover the Earth, including approximately 920,000 miles of undersea cables on the ocean floor. As some of the oldest cables are removed from the ocean and new cables are laid, scientists are increasingly tracking natural hazards such as earthquakes, volcanoes and floods along this global network. Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) uses laser pulses to read minute changes in vibration, stress, ground motion, and water movement. Traditional seismometers measure ground movement at an isolated point. A fiber optic cable can act as a continuous sensor over a wider area, collecting high-resolution real-time data, and the Grindavík volcanic eruption in Iceland showed how the technology can help track hazards beyond earthquakes. The US National Science Foundation reported that the system issued a warning 26 minutes before the eruption, giving nearby residents time to evacuate. The Caltech researchers also proved the power of the monitoring system. They operated an approximately 62-mile section of fiber optic cable, collecting data equivalent to 10,000 traditional seismometers. Their findings could have a huge impact on seismic monitoring at a much lower cost than traditional systems. There are more than 700 seismometers in California, each costing up to $50,000. A DAS system needs a $200,000 interrogator to send laser light pulses across miles of cable. The same approach could prove useful for underwater seismic monitoring, which is becoming even more expensive and difficult. In the Canary Islands, researchers transformed an underwater telecommunications cable into 11,968 strain sensors over about 75 miles. The DAS system detected local and regional earthquakes as well as seismic waves from ocean earthquakes thousands of kilometers away. How the same technology could detect moonquakes Naim uddin Identifier 6667907/Shutterstock The same technology could be headed to space, as researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory propose using fiber optic cables to detect moonquakes. The cables could be unwound for miles across the Moon’s surface. Researchers suggest there may be no need to bury the cables after testing signal clarity in a lab using crushed basalt to simulate the moon’s surface. The same cables deployed as seismic sensors could one day support communications for lunar missions. The Moon does not have the type of tectonic plates that shake Earth’s fault lines, causing most earthquakes. Moonquakes are instead triggered by forces such as Earth’s gravitational pull and meteorite impacts. Additionally, scientists say the moon’s surface is even colder than we initially thought, falling below -410 degrees Fahrenheit at night and heating up to 250 degrees Fahrenheit during the day. These temperature fluctuations cause the surface to expand and contract, thereby increasing the Moon’s seismic activity. Scientists believe that understanding the seismic waves caused by this activity will help them learn more about what’s inside the moon, such as its density, composition, and whether it contains liquid. If scientists discover faults, it could indicate that the Moon is more geologically active than previously thought. In 2019, researchers used moonquake data to infer that the size of the natural satellite was decreasing. However, additional moonquake data could reveal new information about the moon’s formation.
