Articles | Volume 22, issue 3
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-22-1625-2026
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-22-1625-2026
Research article
 | 
27 May 2026
Research article |  | 27 May 2026

Monitoring surface gravity wave variability with State of Polarization sensing on a subsea telecommunication cable

Julián D. Pelaez Quiñones, Steinar Bjørnstad, Peter J. Thomas, and Per Lunde

Cited articles

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Barcik, P. and Munster, P.: Measurement of slow and fast polarization transients on a fiber-optic testbed, Opt. Express, 28, 15250–15257, https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.390649, 2020. a
Bjørnstad, S., Yamase Skarvang, K. S., Roar Hjelme, D., Tunheim, A., Fjermestad, F., and Østerli, E.: First Impact Movement Characterization of Shallow Buried Live Subsea-Cable, in: 2024 Optical Fiber Communications Conference and Exhibition (OFC), 1–3, https://doi.org/10.1364/OFC.2024.M4E.4, 2024. a, b
Bruciaferri, D., Tonani, M., Lewis, H. W., Siddorn, J. R., Saulter, A., Castillo Sanchez, J. M., Valiente, N. G., Conley, D., Sykes, P., Ascione, I., and McConnell, N.: The Impact of Ocean-Wave Coupling on the Upper Ocean Circulation During Storm Events, J. Geophys. Res.-Oceans, 126, e2021JC017343, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JC017343, 2021. a, b, c
Carver, C. J. and Zhou, X.: Polarization sensing of network health and seismic activity over a live terrestrial fiber-optic cable, Commun. Eng., 3, https://doi.org/10.1038/s44172-024-00237-w, 2024. a
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Short summary
We compare state of polarization (SoP) measurements on a subsea telecommunication cable with reference ocean wave variability data to quantitatively assess the performance of SoP as a sensor of opportunity. We find correlations of up to 70% and observe both wind and swell waves simultaneously perturbing two distinct cable regions. While SoP data is generally non-trivial to interpret, the technique is practical to implement, remotely-operated and compatible with existing cable networks
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