As a disaster management initiative, Google has been conducting an experiment using subsea fiber optic cables to detect earthquakes and tsunamis early.?
The results of the Google experiment have now been shared by CEO Sundar Pinchai and its looks like the disaster warning system is much faster than existing ones.
Sundar Pichai shared the update on the Google experiment through a recent tweet, stating how the experiment uses existing fiber cables to detect disturbances on the seafloor.?
As per Google, the new technique does not need any special equipment, is broadly applicable on the millions of kilometers of fiber optic networks in the world and can enable much faster detection of earthquakes and tsunamis.
In a recent blog, Google explains how it used data obtained from its undersea fiber cables (or ¡°submarine cables¡±) to provide warnings of seismic activities on the seabed.
As fiber optic cables along the ocean floor transmit data across continents, the signals experience distortions through the way. At the receiving end, these distortions are corrected by digital signal processing. One of the properties that is tracked during this is the state of polarization (SOP).?
What's interesting is that?Google says that it can detect seismic activity by tracking changes in such SOPs caused by mechanical disturbances.
At first, Google was focused on detecting the seismic activities through this technique. Dr. That was until Zhongwen Zhan of the California Institute of Technology Seismological Laboratory looked through the data recorded during the experiment.
Dr Zhan found out that in addition to detecting seismic movements, the data can also be used to detect ¡°pressure changes in the ocean itself, which could help predict tsunamis,¡± notes Google.
Google¡¯s tsunami detection technique has a unique advantage to it. While the tsunami detection equipment on shore is slow, that scattered throughout the ocean is too far and hence, limited by the speed of the traveling wave - ¡°a maximum of 800 km per hour for a deep sea wave¡±.?
Making use of fiber cables that carry data as pulses of light at 204,190 kilometers per second can cut this time short to milliseconds.
The most beneficial aspect of the technique is that it can be used across the prevailing network.
Google clarifies that the results are just ¡°a first demonstration, not a working system.¡± It says that much work still remains to be done on the technique.
Once built, it does not see it as a replacement of dedicated seismic sensors. Instead, the tech major aims to use it to provide complementary information to enable early warnings for earthquakes and tsunamis.