A first subsea Internet cable to the Antarctic has been proposed.
The US government’s National Science Foundation (NSF) is investigating the possibility of building a cable connecting the largest US Antarctic Program research facility, McMurdo Station, with either New Zealand or Australia.
Though the main scope of the installation “is to provide advanced high-speed, low delay telecommunications” to McMurdo Station, the cable “will contain additional point sensors and/or distributed sensing infrastructure, enabling for the first time myriad investigations across a broad range of scientific disciplines,” the NSF said.
Having already carried out feasibility studies to determine that building a cable to the Antarctic is possible, in December 2024 the NSF published a call for information that can help move the project forward. No timescales have been published as to when it might come into service.
The route from New Zealand appears to be the favored option, being 1,500 km shorter than the Australian version, making it cheaper to construct. The feasibility study also found that “the New Zealand route covers more regions of science interest as indicated by science researcher input to the study.”
Scientists believe the risk of “ice scour” - or moving icebergs -on the route disrupting the cable is relatively low.
The NSF “seeks information from the public to evolve the development of the Antarctic SMART Cable,” the call for information says.
It continues: “NSF requests information regarding the subsea cable route that both minimizes the risk to the cable and maximizes science research potential, the range of potential science sensors to include, as well as their geographic distribution, the locations of powered cable branching units for future sensor cable build-out or undersea observatory-style point sensor arrays, concepts for the incorporation of existing or promising distributed fiber sensing techniques, and suggested paths to catalyze the necessary technology to develop such a cable system.”
The consultation period runs until January 15, 2025.
When it comes to commercial subsea routes, Antarctica is likely to remain a cable-free zone, with no obvious economic benefit to developing long-distance connections through the region.
However, in the far north, two cable routes are under development, the Alaska-based Far North Fiber project and Polar Connect, which proposes to lay a cable through the North Pole ice sheet. Both routes aim to connect the US, Europe, and Asia via the Northern Sea Route.
Earlier this month, Polar Connect received a €4 million ($4.2m) grant from the European Union to help it map the Arctic Ocean, a key step that must be undertaken before its cable can be laid.