For reference and because it's cool: https://www.submarinecablemap.com/ The positioning where several cables run near each other is not true to life, as they are spaced in order to remain visible....
The positioning where several cables run near each other is not true to life, as they are spaced in order to remain visible. However, the general path along the coast is easy to see. Since it appears that the cables tie back to European networks, it's safe to assume that the cut occurred somewhere offshore of the northernmost country affected, or perhaps in the waters just north of that.
There are a lot of unsustainable and ill-regulated commercial fishing practices going on around Africa. It's part of what drove the Somalian pirates to piracy; their fishing grounds were being absolutely ransacked by foreign fishing fleets. Dragging nets low across the sea floor is one such practice, and is usually banned, but none of these countries have a particularly notable navy or coast guard to enforce such a ban. Absent any other information, my guess is that it was an unlucky fisherman or a very irresponsible dredger that did the deed.
Reuters link. It sounds like it is unlikely to be fishing. Edit: there are likely to be updates posted to subtelforum.
"Given the distance from land, and the cable depth of about 3 kms (1.86 miles) at the point of fault, any kind of human activity – ship anchors, fishing, drilling etc has been immediately ruled out," it said.
When the undersea cables were first laid I remember a lot of discussion around how sharks would chew on them. At the time it stood out to me because squirrels kept chewing through our land line. I...
When the undersea cables were first laid I remember a lot of discussion around how sharks would chew on them. At the time it stood out to me because squirrels kept chewing through our land line. I wouldn't expect fiber optics to make noise like a traditional cable, but I don't have any experience with them.
Internet analysis firm Cloudflare reported a pattern in the timing of the disruptions that heavily impacted at least 10 countries in West Africa, including Ivory Coast, Liberia, Benin, Ghana, and Burkina Faso.
Subsea fiberoptic cables also have built in repeaters inside the cable to amplify the signal as it travels hundreds to thousands of kilometers. Those amplifiers need to be powered, so there is...
Subsea fiberoptic cables also have built in repeaters inside the cable to amplify the signal as it travels hundreds to thousands of kilometers. Those amplifiers need to be powered, so there is copper cabling wrapped around the fiber optics carrying DC power. AC is much better for distance, but all electronics are run on DC power so using AC would require adding a rectifier at each amplifier point which is just one more piece of equipment that can fail.
The power traveling through the cable creates an electromagnetic field which is what they think causes the sharks to attack them.
The "sharks attacking cables" thing is pretty rare though. It's almost always something else.
If you test, you test small. This is multiple cables severed. If it were a country doing it, it's an attack on the internet for everyone downstream of the cuts. I think that's really unlikely...
If you test, you test small. This is multiple cables severed. If it were a country doing it, it's an attack on the internet for everyone downstream of the cuts.
I think that's really unlikely though, but I am interested in knowing what went wrong.
There have absolutely been other cases of subsea cables getting intentionally cut. There was lots of speculation about the gas lines in the Baltic getting intentionally damaged by Russia, and a few lines have been cut by the Houthis in recent weeks by having a fishing ship drop anchor and drag across the red sea. I just don't think that's the case here. Russia cuts cables that cause trouble for big players, and the Houthis are on the opposite side of the continent.
Ive asked around at work (I work tangentially to a team involved with subsea stuff). They said the vendors have said it's an underwater landslide. That lines up with that this article is saying:...
Given the distance from land, and the cable depth of about 3 kms (1.86 miles) at the point of fault, any kind of human activity – ship anchors, fishing, drilling etc has been immediately ruled out
Coincidentally, I was watching a pretty long YouTube video over the weekend that ended up talking about this. It's pretty long but if you're interested in underwater topography at all it's worth watching the whole thing: https://youtu.be/WtmIBabc7yc?si=sZfqdyVQ_wRAOwNL
Is severing undersea cables something that has to be tested? They're just kind of laying down there. If you have a submarine and want to fuck with them, it's not super complicated, right?
Is severing undersea cables something that has to be tested? They're just kind of laying down there. If you have a submarine and want to fuck with them, it's not super complicated, right?
If you were testing something like that you'd control the test, wouldn't you? as in go deep sea, drop a cable and see if it can be broken. Testing on someone else's equipment seems like it would...
If you were testing something like that you'd control the test, wouldn't you? as in go deep sea, drop a cable and see if it can be broken.
Testing on someone else's equipment seems like it would be a bad idea.
Quick heads up, that's not quite true, but a common and understandable misunderstanding. To compress a long story very short: DC is theoretically more efficient than AC for long transmission...
AC is much better for distance
Quick heads up, that's not quite true, but a common and understandable misunderstanding.
To compress a long story very short: DC is theoretically more efficient than AC for long transmission lines, but since transforming DC up and down is both complex and less efficient, AC is usually preferable for most applications.
The defense against boring names is apparently quantity. Look at genes, or asteroids; after a certain point the administrative sorts stop caring and leave it up to people in the field.
The defense against boring names is apparently quantity. Look at genes, or asteroids; after a certain point the administrative sorts stop caring and leave it up to people in the field.
One possibility is an underwater landslide. In 1929 an earthquake off the coast of Newfoundland triggered a large landslide (known as a "turbidity current") down the slope of the continental shelf...
For reference and because it's cool:
https://www.submarinecablemap.com/
The positioning where several cables run near each other is not true to life, as they are spaced in order to remain visible. However, the general path along the coast is easy to see. Since it appears that the cables tie back to European networks, it's safe to assume that the cut occurred somewhere offshore of the northernmost country affected, or perhaps in the waters just north of that.
There are a lot of unsustainable and ill-regulated commercial fishing practices going on around Africa. It's part of what drove the Somalian pirates to piracy; their fishing grounds were being absolutely ransacked by foreign fishing fleets. Dragging nets low across the sea floor is one such practice, and is usually banned, but none of these countries have a particularly notable navy or coast guard to enforce such a ban. Absent any other information, my guess is that it was an unlucky fisherman or a very irresponsible dredger that did the deed.
Reuters link.
It sounds like it is unlikely to be fishing.
Edit: there are likely to be updates posted to subtelforum.
Interesting, I wasn't aware that they ran quite that deep. Seismic activity doesn't seem like a problem with a good counterplay.
I am curious as to what it is. If would be hilarious if it was something like a cookie cutter shark, but a marine animal seems an unlikely culprit.
When the undersea cables were first laid I remember a lot of discussion around how sharks would chew on them. At the time it stood out to me because squirrels kept chewing through our land line. I wouldn't expect fiber optics to make noise like a traditional cable, but I don't have any experience with them.
I have never heard Cloudflare described this way.
Subsea fiberoptic cables also have built in repeaters inside the cable to amplify the signal as it travels hundreds to thousands of kilometers. Those amplifiers need to be powered, so there is copper cabling wrapped around the fiber optics carrying DC power. AC is much better for distance, but all electronics are run on DC power so using AC would require adding a rectifier at each amplifier point which is just one more piece of equipment that can fail.
The power traveling through the cable creates an electromagnetic field which is what they think causes the sharks to attack them.
The "sharks attacking cables" thing is pretty rare though. It's almost always something else.
Could this be a country testing their ability to sever undersea cables in a region they don’t think will have the ability to investigate or retaliate?
It’s possible. I don’t think we have any evidence yet of the cables being sabotaged though.
If you test, you test small. This is multiple cables severed. If it were a country doing it, it's an attack on the internet for everyone downstream of the cuts.
I think that's really unlikely though, but I am interested in knowing what went wrong.
There have absolutely been other cases of subsea cables getting intentionally cut. There was lots of speculation about the gas lines in the Baltic getting intentionally damaged by Russia, and a few lines have been cut by the Houthis in recent weeks by having a fishing ship drop anchor and drag across the red sea. I just don't think that's the case here. Russia cuts cables that cause trouble for big players, and the Houthis are on the opposite side of the continent.
Ive asked around at work (I work tangentially to a team involved with subsea stuff). They said the vendors have said it's an underwater landslide. That lines up with that this article is saying:
https://dunyanews.tv/en/Technology/798707-African-internet-outage-was-caused-by-subsea-cable-break
Coincidentally, I was watching a pretty long YouTube video over the weekend that ended up talking about this. It's pretty long but if you're interested in underwater topography at all it's worth watching the whole thing:
https://youtu.be/WtmIBabc7yc?si=sZfqdyVQ_wRAOwNL
Is severing undersea cables something that has to be tested? They're just kind of laying down there. If you have a submarine and want to fuck with them, it's not super complicated, right?
If you were testing something like that you'd control the test, wouldn't you? as in go deep sea, drop a cable and see if it can be broken.
Testing on someone else's equipment seems like it would be a bad idea.
Quick heads up, that's not quite true, but a common and understandable misunderstanding.
To compress a long story very short: DC is theoretically more efficient than AC for long transmission lines, but since transforming DC up and down is both complex and less efficient, AC is usually preferable for most applications.
See the Wikipedia page for High Voltage Direct Current for more info if interested.
TIL the cables have names, and some of them aren't boring names. The one going around Russia is the Polar Express.
The defense against boring names is apparently quantity. Look at genes, or asteroids; after a certain point the administrative sorts stop caring and leave it up to people in the field.
If anyone has an idea about what might have happened, I'm curious
One possibility is an underwater landslide. In 1929 an earthquake off the coast of Newfoundland triggered a large landslide (known as a "turbidity current") down the slope of the continental shelf which snapped a dozen transatlantic telephone cables. I'm sure these cables are made of sturdier stuff nowadays but the scale of these landslides is immense, so it's still a possibility.