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Introduction
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) jointly organized the fourth annual workshop of the Joint Task Force (JTF) on Green Cable Systems dedicated on the development of the "green" cable demonstrator project. The event was held on 16-17 (morning) October 2014 in Singapore, followed by the JTF plenary meeting on 17 (afternoon) October.
The JTF workshop piggybacked with the Submarine Networks World (SNW) conference. A session dedicated to the JTF was held on Day 2 of the SNW conference.
Objectives
Addressing environmental threats, such as tsunami, and monitoring climate changes require access to the deep ocean data. But oceans are still largely unknown.
The development of a new generation of ocean observatories that could measure key variables (e.g. water temperature, pressure and acceleration) on the ocean floor would be crucial to provide sustained climate-quality data from the sparsely observed deep oceans and increase the reliability and integrity of the global tsunami warning networks.
Capitalizing on the extraordinary breadth and capacity of the existing telecommunication submarine cable network that traverses all continents, cable repeaters – instruments that amplify optical signals – could be equipped with climate and hazard-monitoring sensors to yield data of great value to climate science, disaster warning and the future of our oceans.
Exploring scientific and societal needs, new engineering requirements for sensor standards and testing protocols, business opportunities, and legal implications, this workshop focused on the strategic steps for the development and deployment of a pilot project fit for climate monitoring and disaster warning in the high seas.
Target audience
This workshop brought together leading specialists in the field, from scientists to engineers, cable industry representatives, legal experts, government officials, regulators, standards experts and others.
