Antarctica is the only continent without a fiber-optic connection.The technology required to get one there is available, but the creation of such infrastructure raises geopolitical questions, including its potential military use, say
Antarctica is the only continent without a fiber-optic connection.
The technology required to get one there is available, but the creation of such infrastructure raises geopolitical questions, including its potential military use, say researchers from Germany.
The US National Science Foundation has plans to build a subsea data cable link from New Zealand or Australia to its McMurdo research base in Antarctica. There’s been no update on the project under the current administration, and research funding has been cut to the Foundation, perhaps casting the plan in doubt.
There’s another project in the planning stages for a link from Chile to King George Island, the Antarctic region with the highest density of research stations, which is being developed through funding from Multilateral Cooperation Center for Development Financing and CAF Development Bank of Latin American and the Caribbean.
These cables would facilitate greater research data transfer that is not reliant on satellite communications.
As the Southern Ocean, including the climate-critical Antarctic Circumpolar Current, remains less researched than other bodies of water, a sensor-equipped cable would also provide a valuable platform for sustained seafloor observations and scientific data generation.
However, such cables could be significant beyond just providing data link to further polar
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