Climate change and its effect on sea levels could cause problems for thousands of Internet users and this could happen very soon, within the next two decades, a team of researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (EE. USA) in a new study.
Experts have revealed that much of the Internet infrastructure may be covered by rising sea levels in the next 15 years. To reach this conclusion, the researchers mapped the Internet infrastructure in the United States and overlaid it on maps showing the projected rise in sea level.
The study, which is the first to assess the risk posed by climate change for the Internet, combined projections of incursions into sea level from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ( NOAA ) with data from the Internet Atlas , a Complete global map of the physical structure of the United States Internet.
They found that already, within 15 years, thousands of kilometers of fiber optic cable and hundreds of other key Internet infrastructures are at risk of being submerged by the ocean. Some of the infrastructures are waterproof, but others were designed for land use. They are not prepared to work underwater.
“Most of the damage that is going to be done in the next 100 years will be done sooner rather than later,” said Paul Barford, leader of the work. “That surprised us. The expectation was that we would have 50 years to plan it. We are not 50 years old.”
The risk appears to be higher for internet infrastructure than in the United States, in New York, Seattle and Miami, where water could rise as much as a foot by 2030.
Domino effect in global communications
Researchers have also stated that the effects would not be limited to these areas. The consequences would also spread across the Internet and potentially disrupt global communications.
By 2033, more than 6,000 kilometers of buried fiber conduit could be flooded underwater and more than 1,100 traffic points could be surrounded by water .
And is that much of the infrastructure is buried and follows the established rights of way, usually highways and roads parallel to the coast. It is clear that when this structure was planned and built 20 or 25 years ago, climate change was not taken into account.
It is clear that the risk is imminent and we could already see signs of the problems to come in the disastrous tides and floods that accompanied Hurricanes Sandy (in 2012) and Katrina (in 2005), which significantly affected infrastructure telecommunications.
Barford clarifies that his findings pose a major threat to the management and operations of communication systems and, therefore, action must be taken to address this threat.
Reference: Lights Out: Climate Change Risk to Internet Infrastructure 2018 University of Wisconsin – Madison and University of Oregon. (PDF)
Seawater flood projections in New York in 2033 and its effect on Internet infrastructures. The blue areas indicate the parts of the city that will be submerged. Image credit: Paul Barford.
