The ocean is key to understanding societal threats including climate change, sea level rise, ocean warming, tsunamis, and earthquakes. Because the ocean is difficult and costly to monitor, we lack fundamental data needed to adequately model, understand, and address these threats. One solution is to integrate sensors into future undersea telecommunications cables. This is the mission of the SMART subsea cables initiative (Science Monitoring And Reliable Telecommunications). SMART sensors would "piggyback" on the power and communications infrastructure of a million kilometers of undersea fiber optic cable and thousands of repeaters, creating the potential for seafloor-based global ocean observing at a modest incremental cost. Initial sensors would measure temperature, pressure, and seismic acceleration. The resulting data would address two critical scientific and societal issues: the longterm need for sustained climate-quality data from the under-sampled ocean (e.g., deep ocean temperature, sea level, and circulation), and the near-term need for improvements to global tsunami warning networks. A Joint Task Force (JTF) led by three UN agencies (ITU/WMO/UNESCO-IOC) is working to bring this initiative to fruition. This paper explores the ocean science and early warning improvements available

The Joint Task Force, Science Monitoring And Reliable Telecommunications (JTF SMART) Subsea Cables, is working to integrate environmental sensors for ocean bottom temperature, pressure, and seismic acceleration into submarine telecommunications cables. The purpose of SMART Cables is to support climate and ocean observation, sea level monitoring, observations of Earth structure, and tsunami and earthquake early warning and disaster risk reduction, including hazard quantification. Recent advances include regional SMART pilot systems that are the first steps to trans-ocean and global implementation. Examples of pilots include: InSEA wet demonstration project off Sicily at the European Multidisciplinary Seafloor and water column Observatory Western Ionian Facility; New Caledonia and Vanuatu; French Polynesia Natitua South system connecting Tahiti to Tubaui to the south; Indonesia starting with short pilot systems working toward systems for the Sumatra-Java megathrust zone; and the CAM-2 ring system connecting Lisbon, Azores, and Madeira. This paper describes observing system simulations for these and other regions. Funding reflects a blend of government, development bank, philanthropic foundation, and commercial contributions. In addition to notable scientific and societal benefits, the telecommunications enterprise’s mission of global connectivity will benefit directly, as environmental awareness improves both the integrity of individual cable systems as well as the resilience of the overall global communications network. SMART cables support the outcomes of a predicted, safe, and transparent ocean as envisioned by the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development and the Blue Economy. As a continuation of the OceanObs’19 conference and community white paper (Howe et al., 2019, doi: 10.3389/fmars.2019.00424), an overview of the SMART programme and a description of the status of ongoing projects are given.

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Lentz Telecomn Strateg:ies, LLC 7254 Spr:ing S:ide Way McLean, VA 22101 USA stl enltz(gm# rai l.comr Abstract-One of the objectives of the NEPTUNE Canada T. T-NTRODUCTIO-N Regionaal Cable Observal;ory (RCO) is to provide a r he structure of the NEPTUNE Canlada Regionlal Cabled commuinication s platfoirm for unadersea applicationas linaked to the global Inuteirnuet. Suppoirted applications inaclude sensoir polling, Osraoycnitofaigllopom 82kmn commanud anad conutirol, file tiranasfeir, data stireamilng anad video leghbgnigadednga otAbri rts stremin. Ieall, te oserator inrasrucure illals be Columubia. Currently, five nodes are to be attached. to this loop forwalrd compatiblewith asyet unknaownapplicationEs. Achievinllg by lmeanrs of spur cables and branLchi:ng units. A sixththese goals requires a comprehensive communications branching unit and stub cable allows a node to be added architectulre stlretlchilng firom the most remote inastrumenelts to the without interruptinlg the backbone; the resultinlg confilgurationl Ilnterlnel;. The key compoln entls of this architectlulre are lthe is shown in Fig.l1. The optical linle designl permnits four obselrvatory backbolne anud naodes, extelnsiona cables, junactiona addit:ional nodes and approxilmately 900 kmr of cable to be boxes, selrial device servelrs, sholre based lroutelrs, anad a backhaul added to the loop. Power to the underwater nodes is prov:ided linak coln nectinag the shore st;ation l;o the Ilntlerlnet. The by mneans of constant voltage sources at eithe:r end. of the cable observatolry backbolne anad naodes are inategrated anad delivered which mnay generate up to 8 amuperes of current :into both ends unudelr a sinugle supply conutlract. Junactioln boxes, extelnsiona cables, of the cable; seawater provides a current returnl path. The ilnstrumentl pods anad l;he scielnce inastruments and senasolrs alre cable loop, branlches, anld nodes comprise the core of the each proculred separately alnd must be inategrated anad tested plriolr observator:y, the architecture of which has been described inl to deployment. The IEEE 802.1 and 802.3 (Ethernet) series of [I] and [2]. The objectives and requirements for NEPTUNE standards are relied uponr to enasulre compatibility betweeln Canada are established in [3], [4], and [5]. lnet;work elemenats. Linak Aggregationa Conatrol Protocol (802.3ad) alnd Virl;ual Local Area Networkinag (802.1Q) provide essenatial funuctionaality folr obselrvatolry opelratioln. The NEPTUNE Canaada commulnication s archit;ectulre immediately supports IPv4 anad keyI unaderwatelr compoln ent s also support TPv6. The NEPTUNE Canuada designu allows expanasionu thlrough the additioln of lnodes anad junactiona boxes, upglrade firom 2.5 Gb/s to 10 Gb/s optical Bakbn chalannels, anad ext;enasion of the backbolne cable. CableThe lnetwolrk desigln select;ed by NEPTUNE Canaada has manay benuefits, but is nuot ideal ina all lrespects. Nolnetheless, aln alnalysis Shor of the designa risks anad tlradeoffs shows that most of these alre well jTermninals extenad l;he NEPT...