Scientific re-use of retired undersea fiber optic telecommunications cables

Summary form only given. The first generation of fiber optic undersea telecommunications cables that span the North Pacific and Atlantic oceans are now being retired. However, there is now an extraordinary opportunity for re-using these systems for science. These first generations systems contain one to three fiber pairs, with each pair supporting communications at 296 Mb/s, or for TAT-9, -10, and -11 at 592 Mb/s. The systems operate at 1.7 amps and 7 kvolt, and about 5 kwatts of power are available for a seafloor observatory system. It is possible to recover and re-lay sections of these cable systems with a cable ship to locations more advantageous for science. These newly retiring fiber optic telecommunications cables offer far greater opportunities for the scientific community.