Fiber-optic cables can provide a wealth of detailed data on subsurface vibrations from a wide range of sources. Machine learning offers a means to make sense of it all.
fiber optics
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Fiber-Optic Cables Can Produce High-Resolution Underground Maps
Telecom fiber repurposed as distributed acoustic sensing arrays can image near-surface structure and potentially improve seismic hazard mapping in urban areas.
Posted inEditors' Vox
Using Sound and Vibration Signals to Understand the Subsurface
A new book explores Distributed Acoustic Sensing, a technology with a range of applications across geophysics and related fields.
Posted inScience Updates
Sensing Iceland’s Most Active Volcano with a “Buried Hair”
Distributed acoustic sensing offered researchers a means to measure ground deformation from atop ice-clad Grímsvötn volcano with unprecedented spatial and temporal resolutions.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Aftershocks and Fiber Optics
Internet cables can be transformed into a string of dense seismic sensors, and this approach has now been shown to be highly useful for quickly monitoring seismicity after major earthquakes.
Posted inNews
Laser Flashes Shed Light on a Changing Arctic
An ongoing project in northern Alaska is using pulses of laser light to monitor anthropogenic activity, ice quakes, and marine wildlife.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Fibers Pick Up Silicon Valley Traffic Changes During Quarantine
Fiber-optic cables measured a 50% decline in Sand Hill Road traffic in March.
Posted inNews
Everything’s Coming Up Roses for Pasadena Seismologists
Using fiber-optic cables, a new seismic network charts vibrations associated with the Rose Parade’s massive floats and marching bands.
Posted inScience Updates
Fiber-Optic Networks Find a New Use as Seismic Sensor Arrays
Distributed Acoustic Sensing: Principles and Case Studies; Washington, D.C., 9 December 2018
Posted inNews
Unused Fiber-Optic Cables Repurposed as Seismic Sensors
So-called dark fiber can serve as regional seismic activity monitors and also detect earthquakes thousands of kilometers away, according to new research.