Orange and members of the FLY-LION3 consortium (Lower Indian Ocean Network) – the Société Réunionnaise du Radiotéléphone and Comores Câbles – will provide connectivity for the Mayotte volcano and earthquake monitoring network, which is administered by the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPGP).
Using a pair of optical fibres, IPG will experiment with a new technique to listen to the region’s seismic activity. The scientists involved hope to get a better understanding of major geological structures linked to current seismo-volcanic activity.
The FLY-LION3, which was commissioned on 10-October-2019, spans 400km in length connecting Moroni (Grande Comore) and Mamoudzou (Mayotte).
Seismic measurements (ground vibration) will be recorded along the FLY-LION3 cable from Kaweni for a distance of around 50 km in a south-easterly direction from Mayotte.
Whilst the use of optical fibre to monitor infrastructure has been common for around twenty years, with sensors located on portions of fibre, scientists are looking to exploit the different intrinsic backscatter of fibre as sensors to acquire information on its environment (temperature, pressure, stress, vibration, etc.). Optical fibres themselves can be used as a sensor, known as “Fibre Optic Sensors” (FOS).
FLY-LION3 subsea cable reaches Mayotte
The 400 km-long FLY-LION3 subsea cable has reached the island of Mayotte, an overseas department and region of France located in the Indian Ocean.
FLY-LION3 has landing stations in Kaweni (Mamoudzou) and Moroni. It will also link to existing cables LION2 and EASSy, offering a direct connection to the east coast of Africa.
Orange Marine, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Orange group, is responsible for laying the cable.
