Distributed acoustic sensing over available fiber networks: what can available fiber infrastructure tell us about our planet?

Abstract

Submarine optical fibers are nowadays the core backbone of international communications, carrying over 99% of the intercontinental data traffic. These critical infrastructures for communications have also recently demonstrated to have strong potential for geophysical monitoring in the bottom of the oceans. In this paper, we show that submarine optical fiber cables can be used to gain knowledge on the planet and its dynamics, including more accurate estimations of currents and other water mixing phenomena that have strong impact in climate change estimations. Among other things, we show that internal waves, a large-scale phenomenon generated by the interaction of barotropic tides with bathymetric changes in the sea-bottom, can be very accurately observed by deploying chirped-pulse Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) technology over these cables.