Chinese scientists use telecom optical fiber to monitor aftershocks

BEIJING, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Chinese scientists have developed a new way to monitor aftershocks by using telecom optical fiber with less deployment time and cost, the China Science Daily reported Wednesday.

A research team from the Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology, affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, used distributed optical fiber seismic-sensing technology to turn an urban telecom optical fiber network into an ultra-dense seismic monitoring array for a rapid post-quake response.

Aftershocks monitoring of strong or destructive earthquakes can help the earthquake early warning and estimation. The mobile seismic monitoring network is one of the main tools of aftershock monitoring.

The distributed optical fiber seismic-sensing technology can detect the stretch or compression of optical fibers during the quakes and turn them into seismic signals.

The research team used a 7.6-km telecom optical fiber in Tangshan, north China's Hebei Province, to monitor aftershocks after a 5.1-magnitude earthquake had jolted the Guye District of the city on July 12, 2020, and detected dozens of weak aftershocks with a preliminary distribution of potential earthquake damage risk.

The research finding was published in the journal Seismological Research Letters.