There are more than a million kilometers of fiber-optic cable networks around our planet, facilitating internet and data signals and other communications. Other uses are now possible, researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) have discovered. Use the controls at the top to play the animation or step through year by year. Now, researchers are using them to defend against earthquakes and produce an unprecedented map of the underground world Beneath the winding streets of Istanbul, Turkey, a fibre-optic cable pulses with laser light. Until recently, this stretch. The subsea telecom cables laid by civilian operators (like the one above) could be used to listen to all kinds of acoustic signals in the water column, with a wide range of scientific uses (File image courtesy Russian Ministry of Defense) [ByNancy Bazilchuk] The more-than 1. 2 million km of. EU-funded researchers are exploring how undersea communication cables can double-up as environmental and seismic sensors – a potential game-changer for early warning systems. 48 million kilometres of underwater fibre-optic. Projects such as SEA-ME-WE (Southeast Asia - Middle East - Western Europe) and FLAG (Fiber-Optic Link Around the Globe) established intercontinental fiber-optic routes, bridging entire regions with high-speed data links. The data comes from Submarine Cable Map, a website run by.