424: What Happens to Cables When The Earth Moves Under Our Feet?

How are submarine cables impacted by tectonic shifts beneath the seafloor?

This week's guests on TeleGeography Explains the Internet are well-positioned to tell us. They join us from the UK’s National Oceanography Centre: Isobel Yeo, Researcher in Geology and Volcanology, and Michael Clare, Principal Researcher of Ocean BioGeoscience and Marine Environmental Adviser to the International Cable Protection Committee. 

Mike and Izzy are geologists specializing in the seafloor, so their research has become vital for the submarine cable community.

While most cable faults are due to human activity, a fair number are caused by changes in the seafloor. This includes earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, and even flooding on land. 

We discuss the myriad ways that the dynamic nature of what lies under the surface can damage cables. We even get into the history of natural disasters and communications cables going back a century or more. 

We get into a specific seismic event—the recent Tongan volcanic eruption—as well as ongoing threats to sub cables, including how climate change could increase risks and how we can start to mitigate them. 

From This Episode:

• Episode 310: How Global Events Impact the Internet
• Explore our 2023 Submarine Cable Map
• Cutting off Europe? A Look at How the Continent Connects to the World
• Gloomy Economic Indicators… Scary Future for the Subsea Cable Industry?
• New Cables Are Coming to Africa
• Submarine Cable FAQs