In the last few years, a number of technologies to use fiber optic cables as sensing devices have been established, among them Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) and State-of-Polarisation (SoP). The potential of these technologies for monitoring a range of Earth System parameters in submarine cables has been demonstrated through several pilot experiments, but full integration with telecommunication infrastructure has not yet been achieved. The SUBMERSE (SUBMarinE cables for ReSearch and Exploration) project links Research and Education Networks (RENs), universities, research institutes and industry to establish multi-method monitoring along submarine optical telecommunication cables at several key oceanic cable routes branching off from Sines in Portugal, Madeira, Svalbard and in the Ionian Sea (cable linking Preveza, Greece to Crotone, Italy), and also in the Aegean. Those pilot sites should serve as a blueprint for establishing continuous monitoring services along many more cables.

The project comprises technical developments for integrating DAS and SoP measurements, for establishing differential SoP measurements between repeaters and for operating DAS in a co-existence mode, i.e., in fibers also carrying telecommunications traffic. Furthermore, a range of geoscientific and marine biology use cases are included, which seek to establish code/services for monitoring earthquakes and tsunamis, tracking whales, measuring the sea state and other Earth System variables. 

The data collected by SUBMERSE will be distributed according to FAIR principles through established community-specific distribution channels such as EIDA for seismological data, with exceptions for security sensitive time period, spatial or frequency ranges. 

We coordinate WP3 on developing the scientific use cases and task 3.2 on geoscientific applications. Specifically, we work on methods for automated analysis of DAS data for earthquake signals, and on enabling realtime streaming of DAS data through seedlink, a seismological standard format. 

See also press release: SUBMERSE