A Reason for Optimism: Web of undersea cables poised to become marine observatory | Why This Matters

A Reason for Optimism: Web of undersea cables poised to become marine observatory | Why This Matters

Why this story matters: Stories like this show how communities, innovation, and determination can lead to lasting improvements. Quick summary: This story highlights recent developments related to science, showing how constructive action can lead to meaningful results. Telecom infrastructure at the ocean floor is being harnessed as a powerful conservation tool for vulnerable marine mammals A hidden network of underwater fibre optic cables could offer unprecedented new insights into the lives of some of the world’s most threatened and elusive sea creatures. That’s the hope of researchers from the University of Washington, US, who have laid 1.25 miles of cable across Puget Sound, just south of the Canadian border, to eavesdrop on the region’s endangered southern resident orcas. Would you like to read more good news about Science , Marine Conservation , Conservation , Whales , Marine Mammals , and Sea ? The technique, known as distributed acoustic sensing (DAS), works by firing laser pulses through t…