Running Head: SUBMARINE COMMUNICATION CABLES 1

Submarine Communication Cables

Jack M. Burns
Ocean Lakes Math and Science Academy

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What I Know, Assume, and Imagine
I knew that I could communicate with someone on a different continent
through the Internet or an expensive long distance phone call but never knew how.
If you were to ask me a month ago I would have figured that the technology behind
these tasks had something to do with satellites. In actuality cables carry out these
duties that we depend on so much. I didnt anticipate discovering that cables on the
sea floor were behind people messaging each other from separate sides of the
world. I thought that cables would have been too antiquated for conducting such a
burdening task but when I investigated a little further I discovered that they use
multiple fiber optics cables and can handle the pressure of being thousands of
meters deep in ocean1, 2.
Although we may think of satellites telling Facebook that you liked some
page, satellites only carry only 3% of global communications3. Submarine
communication cables are underappreciated and most people are completely
unaware of their existence.
These cables connect the entire world and without them our world would be
marginally different and we couldnt depend on the Internet nearly as much. These
cables dont just help with the everyday convenience of looking up random facts or
using social media but also support global business, databases, and entire fields
that have tons of positions. It is important for people to know about these cables

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because people are going to need to be able to repair, install and improve this
technology for centuries to come.
From previous surface level research conducted in my first exploration post I
knew the basic facts. I knew how they carry the majority of global communications
and how they are far more effective than any current satellite technology. I knew
that they were extremely expensive due to the fact that they need to be thousands
of kilometers long and that they have to be laid carefully. Even though they are
extremely expensive they are still more economically feasible than satellite
projects like Googles project loon. I also knew that things varying from anchors
to sharks could damage them.
This information only piqued my curiosity and created tons of questions in
my mind but of course I had to narrow myself down since understanding the ins
and outs of submarine telecommunications cables would take a massive amount of
time to grasp. I knew that things could damage submarine communications cables,
but could the cable itself do harm? When I learned that these cables simply sat on
the surface of the ocean floor I wondered if they affected ocean life at all.
Additionally, I wanted to know how these cables were installed. I wanted to know
why the installation was so expensive and how they managed to install cables
without damaging the fiber optics inside. I also wanted to get a better idea of how
much of the Internet that they supported and why they are the preferred medium.

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The Story of My Search
It wasnt difficult to find basic information on submarine communication
cables but finding more primary sources was more difficult. One question that was
answered one quora.com actually linked to multiple great sources for finding
information about everything related to what I was curious in.
The first question I answered was the one I was the most interested in, that
being how do submarine communication cables affect ocean floor life. I was
disappointed to find that little research had ever been conducted on this topic and
that they all of these papers were pay to read. I also had the same problem with
papers that referenced these papers. One article that I found helped me find my
answer was an article by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Institute. It also helped me
learn how they investigated cables and showed me some more pictures on how
they look on the sea floor. I was actually quite dissatisfied with the answer that I
found in the end.
The second question I went to investigate was how submarine
communication cables are installed. I had the opposite problem of my first question
in that there were too many articles on it and the information was difficult to
narrow down. The difficulty with this question was trying to find the main
variables that go into the decisions in installing a submarine cable. From the quora

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page I was able to find an easier explanation on how the cable can be laid from one
point to another.
Originally my final question was how much of the Internet do submarine
communication cables comprise of. It was hard to find any research papers on the
subject but I heard similar numbers being thrown around so I wound up widening
my question to include why cables are preferred to satellites for
telecommunications. This helped me investigate for on the governmental and
economic factors that go into the decision making behind submarine
communication cables.
For all of my research I started with a simple Google search and was usually
able to find an article from a website like cnn.com or mentalfloss.com. From there
I was able to discover how they found their information and I was able to use
information from companies that actually build and install the cable.
My Results
For the effect of submarine communication cables on the environment I
found that the effect of the cables was very minimal and in some cases beneficial
to some of the species living near the cable. In one study it was found that the
concentration of organisms that live in sediment was similar to the concentration
away from it. In some cases different organisms were attracted to the cable3, 5. For
example, flat fish were found to be more abundant next to the cable than way from

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it for no known reason. It also helped sea anemones have a solid surface to grow
on where before they couldnt grow on the soft sediment4. A cables existence has
little to no impact on the environment due to the fact that they are quite small but
the installation can move sediment disrupting the natural condition of the habitat.
In certain countries a survey called a EIA (environmental impact assessment) has
to be conducted to provide information on the cables installation, maintenance,
and existence impact on the environment so that future submarine cables can be
created with a minimal environmental impact5.
What I found for how submarine communication cables are installed is that
Submarine telecommunication cables are generally laid on the sediment in deep
water and are buried and armored in more shallow areas. Special ships are used to
lay the cable and a certain process is used to get the cable laid from one point to
another. Before cables are laid a survey is taken for specific circumstances such as
certain permits, environmental concerns, and the terrain that the cable will go over.
Slack is also an important factor that is important in all cables. Slack must be kept
so that ocean current can't damage the cable from tightening to tight. Although
these factors can be considered to protect the cable from the environment humans
still cause 90% of cable damage, usually from fishing and mining operations4. To
stop these types of damage the cable is armored when it is closer to shore.

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Finally I found that these cables support 99% of the Internet2. The reason
behind this is that satellites arent nearly as efficient in any way. These cables are
more economically feasible even though creating submarine communication is
incredibly expensive. The range of satellites is also much smaller where as
submarine communication cables are used to connect continents. The capacity of
satellites is also much lower. The application of most satellites is that of
broadcasting rather than that of the job of a back and forth communication5.
Whats next?
In the future if I were to continue with this topic I would try and investigate
on the careers in this industry and what background is necessary to get into the
field. I am also curious in how these cables were managed to be hacked and why. If
I were to branch out on this I could investigate some other aspects that create the
internet and how they all work together to help us in our daily lives.

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Cited References
1. Submarine Networks | Alcatel-Lucent. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.alcatel-lucent.com/solutions/submarine-networks
2. Secrets of Submarine Cables | NEC. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.nec.com/en/global/about/mitatv/02/index.html
3. Life on the line. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.mbari.org/news/homepage/2006/cable.html
4. Submarine Cable Map 2014. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://submarinecable-map-2014.telegeography.com
5. Retrieved from https://www.iscpc.org/documents/?id=132