Submarine Communication Cables Called Upon for Climate Change Research
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John Yuzhu You, a scientists at Sydney University, has called upon telecommunications companies to do something extraordinarily helpful -- let scientists use their undersea cables for oceanic climate change research. By opening up both old and new cables for use by the climate science community and attaching voltmeters at locations along the lines that would read the "pulse" of the ocean, researchers could learn so much more about currents, salinity, seismology, temperatures and other vital signs.
You calls the cables a "missed opportunity" for science. Voltmeters, which would cost around $3,000 to set up, could be used for pulling data for as long as the cables are underwater -- which could be decades. This could be the perfect solution for gathering long-term data for a scientific community tight on funds.
"There is actually business [for telcos] to do - they can actually make additional money selling data to scientists," states You, nothing that telcos could sell the data from their cables or even the retired cables themselves so they can be relocated to scientifically important areas.
Researchers already have gained approval of Singtel and Telstra to use cables in the Indonesian Sea and Bass Strait, and they're hoping eventually there will be a cable networking linking up the entire ocean across the globe.
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