An Australian scientist has called on telcos to allow their subsea cables to be used to track climate change.
John Yuzhu You from the University of Sydney says the dozens of submarine cables on the floor of the world’s oceans could be used to monitor currents, seismology and sea temperatures, IT News reported.
Water sloshing around a subsea fiber cable generated an electromagnetic current that could be measured by voltmeters at cable landing stations, You told the news site.
Voltmeters, which cost around A$3,000 (€2,106), could become a long-term source of data, You said.
He and other oceanographers plan to use cables to monitor the Indonesian Throughflow, a current that runs between the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
“To monitor climate change, [researchers] need continuity, but there are also funding limitations,” You said. “There is actually business [for telcos] to do - they can actually make additional money selling data to scientists.”
You and his colleagues hope to establish a global cable network that monitors the world's oceans.