The International Cable Protection Committee (ICPC) is pleased to announce the tenth issue of our bi-annual, marine-focused newsletter titled “Submarine Cable Protection and the Environment.” The publication—written by ICPC’s Marine Scientific Adviser, Dr Mike Clare—is a reference for all seabed users, the scientific community and general public who share the same vital goal as the ICPC—safeguarding submarine telecommunications and power cables worldwide.

The ICPC provides a forum for the exchange of technical, legal and environmental information about submarine cables. If interested in learning more about ICPC's publications and outreach please visit our Publications page. If interested in joining the ICPC, click here.

Submarine Cable Protection and the Environment Archive

• STUDY 1: Newly recognized turbidity current structure can explain prolonged flushing of submarine canyons
• STUDY 2: Longest sediment flows yet measured show how major rivers connect efficiently to deep sea
• STUDY 3: Time-lapse surveys reveal patterns and processes of erosion by exceptionally powerful turbidity currents that flush submarine canyons: A case study of the Congo Canyon
• STUDY 4: Carbon and sediment fluxes inhibited in the submarine Congo Canyon by landslide-damming
• STUDY 5: Globally significant mass of terrestrial organic carbon efficiently by canyon-flushing turbidity currents
• STUDY 6: Seabed seismographs reveal duration and structure of longest runout sediment flows on Earth
• STUDY 7: Ocean-bottom seismometers reveal surge dynamics in Earth’s longest-runout sediment flows
• STUDY 8: Hydroacoustic Signals Recorded by CTBTO Network Suggest a Possible Submarine Landslide in Trou Sans Fond Canyon

• Most Damage to Subsea Cables is Caused by Accidental Human Activities
• A Reduction in Fishing-Related Cable Faults Due to Greater Awareness and Protection
• Impacts of Human Activities Such as Fishing Are Not Entirely Limited to Shallow Water
• Globally-Significant Effects of Bottom Trawling
• Effects of Trawling Felt Far Away into the Deep-Sea
• What are the Implications of Human-Modified Sedimentary Regimes?

• Different Types of Sensing that Relies Upon Submarine Cables
• Introduction to Fibre-Optic Sensing Technologies
• Distributed Acoustic Sensing
• Distributed Temperature Sensing
• Optical Interferometry
• State of Polarisation
• Example Applications in Ocean & Earth Monitoring
• Monitoring of Human Activities
• Earthquakes and Seismic Events
• Tsunami and Surface Waves
• Other Natural Hazards Including Volcanic Hazards
• Oceanographic Processes Including Storms, Currents and Temperature Fluctuations
• Biological activity – Whales & Dolphins
• Polar and Glacial Processes
• What does the future have in store?

• How subsea cables were affected by the most volcanic eruption ever recorded:
• The importance of submarine cables to remote island nations
• Cable damage by natural hazards
• The 2022 eruption of Hunga volcano and the disconnection of Tonga
• Why were the seafloor flows so fast at Hunga volcano?
• What can be done to enhance cable resilience?
• What has been learned from the Hunga volcano eruption?

• Climate Change: An Issue for Today and Not Just the Future
• Climate Change and Subsea Cables: Impacts and Adaptations
• Recent Impacts of Natural Hazards on Subsea Cables
• Changes in Ocean Conditions May Create New Threats
• Mitigation and Adaptation to Ensure Continued Resilience of the Global Telecommunications Cable Network

• Rise of underwater robots
• Ocean gliders making sustained measurements across the ocean
• Autonomous Underwater Vehicles investigating the deep seafloor
• Under the ice—the next frontier
• Looking to the future
• Use of marine autonomous technology for decommissioning
• What about decommissioning of submarine cables?
• An economic case for recycling subsea cables

• Is it Planet Earth or Planet Ocean?
• Rubber Ducks and a Global Ocean
• Growing International Collaborations to Monitor the Health of the Ocean
• A Need to Observe the Deep Sea
• Early Warnings of Offshore Hazards
• The Science Monitoring and Reliable Telecommunications (SMART) Cables Initiative
• Use of Unmodified Cables for Global Monitoring
• A Long History of Collaborations Between the Cable Industry and Ocean Scientific Research

• Keeping the Internet Protected from Space Weather
• Using Seafloor Cables to Measure the World Around Us

• Warming Oceans and Changing Fishing Practices
• Fish Aggregating Devices: An Emerging Threat for Submarine Telecommunication Cables
• Improved Cable Design Eliminates the Threat Posed by Sharks to Submarine Cablesa

• Climate Change and the Role of Submarine Cables in a Post-COVID World
• Powerful Avalanches in the Deep Sea
• Cables are Almost Pristine After Nearly Half a Century in the Deep Sea