數以千哩的互聯網電纜約在2033年可能會被淹沒
Thousands of Miles of Internet Cables Could Be Underwater by 2033
Thousands of Miles of Internet Cables Could Be Underwater by 2033
August 16, 2018
Rising sea levels could threaten internet access for millions of people, according to a recent study.
Thousands of miles of fiber optic cables in coastal communities may be underwater within 15 years due to rising sea levels, threatening internet access for millions of people, according to a study by researchers at the University of Wisconsin and the University of Oregon.
The study, titled Lights Out: Climate Change Risk to Internet Infrastructure, combines sea level rise projections from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration with data from the Internet Atlas, a global map of the internet’s physical infrastructure.
Researchers found that 4,067 miles of fiber conduit and 1,101 data centers and connection points will be “surrounded by water” in the next 15 years. Heavily populated coastal areas, including New York City, Seattle and Miami, are most at risk, as are large-scale internet service providers, including AT&T, CenturyLink and Inteliquent.
But the effects would not be limited to just those areas or providers and could potentially disrupt communications across the globe. Some damage could occur sooner than the 15-year threshold, according to study authors Paul Barford, Carol Barford and Ramakrishnan Durairajan.
“The results of our analysis show that climate change-related sea level incursions could have a devastating impact on internet communication infrastructure even in the relatively short term,” they wrote. “Given the fact that most fiber conduit is underground, we expect the effects of sea level rise could be felt well before the 15-year horizon.”
Fiber-optic cables buried underground are designed to withstand some degree of water and severe weather, but most are not waterproof and were “not designed to be under water permanently,” the study says. “Water, humidity and ice have long been recognized as threats” to cables and can cause various kinds of damage, including reduction in strength of signal, corrosion and fiber breakage.
Seawater inundation projected for Miami by 2033 and its effect on internet infrastructure. Undersea cables, long haul fiber cables and metro fiber cables are shown in the red/green/black lines respectively. Anything in the blue shaded areas is estimated to be underwater in 15 years due to climate change induced sea level rise as projected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (Credit: Paul Barford, UW-Madison)
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