Alaska Communications subsea fiber collects wave activity

Alaska Communications is collaborating with Oregon State University’s College of Engineering to allow wave activity data to be collected from the ocean floor via the company’s subsea fiber optic cable.

Oregon State Assistant Professor of Coastal Engineering, Meagan Wengrove, Ph.D., her Ph.D. student and two post-doctoral researchers traveled to Alaska Communications’ landing station in Florence, Oregon in September to attach a DAS interrogator (distributed acoustic sensing) to the company’s fiber. The instrument measures strain applied to the cable and reports data back to the research team. In addition, the team has radar on the surface of the ocean and two moorings on the ocean floor which contribute to the research.

“The Alaska Communications cable is in an ideal location for our team to monitor the interaction between waves and currents coming out of the Siuslaw River along the Pacific coastline,” said Wengrove. “This project will support continued learning about wave interaction which could potentially improve or provide warnings for coastal communities in the event of dangerous wave activity, like sneaker waves.”

http://www.AlaskaCommunications.com