Event Details

Space Weather Effects on Submarine Cables by Dr David Boteler (Natural Resources, Canada)

Abstract

Submarine cables carry over 95% of international internet traffic and there is concern that this could be disrupted by a major space weather event. This talk will describe the process of geomagnetic induction both in the cable itself and in the seawater and land at the ends of a cable. A model of geomagnetic induction in submarine cables is then described and used to calculate the voltages experienced in the first trans-Atlantic fibre-optic cable, TAT-8, during the largest magnetic storm of the last century that occurred in March 1989. Finally, it will be shown how the new modelling process can be used to make geomagnetic risk assessments for submarine cables.