A SMART approach to reversing the decline of ocean health

Dr. Kate Panayotou is GHD’s Global Lead – Subsea Cables and Technical Director – Coasts, Environment, and Adaptation, and sits on the UN Joint Task Force charged with coordinating the implementation of SMART cables, an initiative that will improve our understanding of just what is happening deep down underwater. 

As we are seeing in all areas of life, climate-related changes are influencing the stability of the environment - our oceans are no different, and these changes are impairing the important role oceans play in balancing our earth’s systems. Changes in water temperature, ocean acidification and deoxygenation affect circulation patters, sea levels, and marine life, and impact the ability of the ocean to continue storing carbon.

Our current understanding of the ocean is further hampered by a lack of continuous real-time, global, deep-ocean measurements; the deep ocean is extremely difficult and costly to monitor. To create better conditions for sustainable oceans we need to gather accurate data about what changes are happening, and the associated impacts stemming from these. For example, we do not have any long-term monitoring programs for ocean bottom pressure, which would enable more accurate estimates of sea-level rise, and improve earthquake and tsunami early warning systems.

The concept of SMART cables is to integrate environmental sensors into the standard telecommunication cables, transforming them into a global ocean environmental sensor network within the next 10-25 years. The hope of the SMART cables initiative is that if the environmental sensors could ‘piggyback’ on the existing one million kilometers of operational undersea cable as well as the future planned cable network, we could create near-global coverage of our oceans at an incremental cost. The environmental sensors would monitor temperature, pressure and seismic acceleration, and support research of climate, ocean circulation, sea-level monitoring, tsunami and earthquake scientific discovery and early warning and disaster risk reduction. This would improve early warning systems, allow us to develop better climate forecasts and infrastructure that is more resilient to disasters. SMART cables will also tie-in and fill the gaps from other existing systems, such as satellite, buoy, and other in-situ systems.

There are a number of SMART initiatives underway already, including one in Siciliy, the western Mediterranean, New Caledonia to Vanatau, and French Polynesia. Ocean cables are generally repaired, replaced, or expanded on 10-20 year cycles, so every year tens of thousands of kilometers of new cables are being laid.  

The Joint Task Force is a project of three United Nations agencies (International Telecommunication Union, World Meteorological Organization, and UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission) working to bring the SMART cables concept to fruition. JTF brings together experts from across a range of disciplines such as telecommunications, environment, engineering, legal and oceanography, and from around the world.

A lot of my recent projects have focused on coastal climate adaptation. We document shoreline change as a means of understanding large scale coastal processes, patterns and behaviours, in order to prepare for climate-change related vulnerabilities. I also look at how we can manage risk and impacts in major infrastructure project upgrades and new builds.

The SMART cables initiative will transform our ocean infrastructure and provide benefits for social and environmental goals such as the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). For a deeper dive into this initiative, see this Special Issue ECO magazine piece, in an issue devoted to the start of the Ocean Decade.