Climate Change Makes Trans-Arctic Circle Submarine Network Cable a Preset
Climate Change Makes Trans-Arctic Circle Submarine Network Cable a Preset
For a long time, it was not possible to lay a submarine network cable from London to Tokyo through the Northwest Passage, which is located between the North American continent and the Arctic archipelago. This was because the submarine cable route was covered by ice all year round.
Now, as temperatures rise and the ice disappears in August-October, a Canadian communications company wants to lay a 10,000-mile submarine network cable in the interim.
Arctic Fibre, based in Toronto, will soon begin exploring a submarine cable path that would connect the United Kingdom and Japan, via several landing sites. The submarine network cable would diversify the global fibre-optic data network without relying on terrestrial cables from unstable regions of the Middle East. This is similar to the recently completed undersea cable project linking Russia and Crimea.
The telecom industry and businesses are calling for more data connections. They are reeling from the 2008 Mediterranean cable disruptions that slowed or halted communications in Asia. However, cable paths through the Middle East have also become attractive targets for sabotage.
The Trans-Arctic Circle Submarine Network Cable Project has avoided the above scenario. In addition to terminating in the UK and Japan, another certain point is located in Canada, where the vast majority of the cable will operate under the sea. This, of course, requires detailed investigation to find a precise path that will not be obstructed by rocks, pulled by the tides or crushed by rock falls.
The $620 million ($3.82 billion) submarine network cable project will also bring network connectivity to areas of Northern Alaska and Canada with unstable data connections.
The project's seafloor expedition will begin in the coming months, using side-scan sonars, digital cameras, electromagnetic probes and core samples to map a path on the seabed.
Explaining that the subsea network cable project is now feasible, Arctic Fibre CEO Doug Cunningam said directly that it is enabled by climate change.
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