The modern world is bound together with cables. As our economy moves to the cloud, the vast majority of data traffic passes through subsea cables. As we transition to renewable energy, hundreds of kilometres of cabling are needed within each wind farm, and to connect wind farms to the shore.

When the first cables were laid, in the 19th century, we learned that the seabed was not geologically and biologically featureless, but complex, dynamic, and full of life. Today, scientists are using cable-based sensing to track climate change in granular detail, and to listen to the calls of individual whales.

But the complexity of the seabed threatens these networks. Sand and silt are as mobile under the sea, as they are in the dunes of the desert. Human actions, from dropped anchors and scallop dredging, through to deep sea mining and pipe laying, pose their own challenges. And the awesome power of nature, of vast subsea landslides, earthquakes, and volcanoes, can sever these links in an instant.

Guests

Dr Michael Clare, Principal Researcher, Ocean BioGeoscience, National Oceanography Centre; Marine Environmental Advisor to the International Cable Protection Committee

Matthew Henderson, Technical Asset Manager, Substructure and Asset Lifecycle, SSE Renewables

Brian Bell, Global Director, Offshore Wind, Fugro

Bastian Wichand, Permitting Manager, Fugro

Partner

Fugro

The post #249 The Cables That Bind Our World Together first appeared on Engineering Matters.