McMurdo is located on the only continent that does not have a high-speed fiber optic cable connection. Earlier this year, NSF began to seriously address this issue with the possibility of building a fiber optic cable that would travel along the seabed from Antarctica to neighboring New Zealand or Australia.
The idea has actually existed since a decade ago, but had to be abandoned because of other projects that were more prioritized. If recent efforts to modernize Antarctica’s internet succeed, scientists say it will transform research and everyday life.
“This will change the fundamental experience of living in Antarctica,” said Peter Neff, a glaciologist and assistant research professor at the University of Minnesota. The Verge, Thursday (25/11).
Currently, researchers working in Antarctica rely on low-bandwidth satellites to communicate with the outside world. NSF Technology Development Manager Patrick Smith said the number bandwidth available to everyone at McMurdo is limited. This makes them often have to store data in hard drive thereby slowing down scientific research.
In late June, NSF sponsored a three-day workshop that brought together US and international researchers to discuss the transformative potential of fiber optic cables to Antarctica. Then in October, workshop organizers released an extensive report highlighting key points, such as potential routes and ways fiber optic cables could be leveraged to collect additional scientific data.
Conference participants said daily life and research in McMurdo . Station will change if a fiber optic connection is available. Researchers can live stream daily operations, weather forecasts can be improved, satellite imagery can be analyzed in real time, cybersecurity can be enhanced, and project participation can be expanded.
Antarctic filmmaker Ariel Waldman traveled to Antarctica for five weeks for a film project about life there in 2018. Waldman admits having faster internet will make a big difference to science communication because it allows communicators to interact with people outside of Antarctica. directly.
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