Undersea cable connecting Norway and Arctic satellite station is mysteriously damaged
An undersea fiberoptic cable which provides vital internet connection and communications links between mainland Norway and the Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic Ocean has mysteriously been put out of action.
The outage on the subsea communications cable, which is the northern most cable of its kind in the world, occurred on January 7 but was only revealed to the public yesterday by Space Norway, who owns and maintains the technology.
The disruption, which occurred on one of two fiberoptic cables, could prove disastrous as it means there is now only one connection between the mainland and Svalbard with no backup.
The cables provide essential power for Space Norway to run the Svalbard Satellite Station (SvalSat), and also enable broadband internet connection on the islands.
Should the second cable fail before repairs are made, Svalbard's citizens and SvalSat will be effectively cut off from Norway.
It comes as Britain's newly appointed chief of the defence staff, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, warned that Russia may look to cripple such vital undersea communications wires supporting the UK.
In an interview at the weekend, Radakin said there had been 'a phenomenal increase' in Russian submarine activity over the past 20 years, adding: 'Russia has grown the capability to put at threat those undersea cables and potentially exploit them.'
A pair of undersea cables provide essential power for Space Norway to run the Svalbard Satellite Station (SvalSat - pictured), and also enable broadband internet connection on the islands. Should the second cable fail before repairs are made, Svalbard's citizens and the arctic SvalSat satellite station will be effectively cut off from Norway
The fault in the cable, which runs from Longyearbyen in Svalbard to Andoeya on Norway's north coast, was detected between 80 - 140 miles from Longyearbyen at a point where the cable runs from less than 0.2 miles deep to over 1.3 miles deep under the surface between the Greenland, Norwegian and Barents seas
It comes as Britain's newly appointed chief of the defence staff, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, warned that Russia may look to cripple such vital undersea communications wires supporting the UK (pictured: Russian submarine RFS Rostov Na Donu, Feb 26, 2021)
The press release from Space Norway said the power outage was first detected at 4:10 am local time on Friday morning, and that the cable has been out of order since.
The fault in the cable, which runs from Longyearbyen in Svalbard to Andoeya on Norway's north coast, was detected between 80 - 140 miles from Longyearbyen at a point where the cable runs from less than 0.2 miles deep to over 1.3 miles deep under the surface between the Greenland, Norwegian and Barents seas.
Space Norway did not provide details of the outage, the extent of the damage or how it was caused, but confirmed that an cable-laying vessel will need to be dispatched to administer repairs.
The company stressed that communication between Svalbard and the mainland was still operational, but admitted that there is no only one cable functioning with no redundancy system should it fail.
More than 97 per cent of the world's communications are transmitted through sub sea optical fibre cables surrounded by armouring wire and a Polyethylene cover
The SvalSat site is located atop a mountainous ridge on Svalbard and consists of more than 100 satellite antennas vital for polar orbiting satellites.
The site represents one of only two ground stations from which data can be downloaded from these types of satellites on each of the Earth's rotations, making it a valuable asset.
However, Russian authorities have previously suggested the SvalSat site may also be used to download data from military satellites as well as commercial ones, despite Svalbard being located in a designated demilitarised zone - accusations which have fuelled suspicions that Russian submarines may be responsible for the outages, though there is no evidence of this as yet.
The SvalSat site is located atop a mountainous ridge on Svalbard and consists of more than 100 satellite antennas vital for polar orbiting satellites. The site represents one of only two ground stations from which data can be downloaded from these types of satellites on each of the Earth's rotations, making it a valuable asset.
There is global network of undersea cables responsible for carrying 97 per cent of international communications, and there is increased speculation that disabling such cables, or trying to gain access to them, could represent an integral part of modern warfare in the digital age.
Largely owned and installed by private companies, are designed to withstand the natural rigours under the sea and cannot be cut easily, but military submarines and unmanned submersibles have the capability to damage or sever the connections.
Space Norway says it will examine the undersea cables and investigate the reason behind the power outage along with Norway's Ministry of Justice and Public Security.
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