The University of Washington is kicking off a project exploring the use of fiber-optic sensing for seismology, glaciology, and even urban monitoring.
Initially, three sensors are being connected to dark fiber running between the UW campuses in Seattle and Bothell. A similar underwater cable across Alaska’s Cook Inlet will later be used to sense volcanic, oceanic, glacial and tectonic systems in the region.
“Fiber-optic sensing is the biggest advance in ground-based geophysics since the field went digital in the 1970s,” said principal investigator Brad Lipovsky, a UW assistant professor of Earth and space sciences. “The UW Photonic Sensing Facility and its partners will explore this technology’s potential across scientific fields — including seismology, glaciology, oceanography and monitoring hydrology and infrastructure.”
