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Instead of the usual image-sharing post, this week's Seafloor Sunday post directs you to an interactive web resource called Greg's Cable Map. Telecommunication cables criss-cross our oceans carrying voice and data between continents with fiber-optic technology and this map is a great way to explore the physical network underlying the virtual one.
According to Wikipedia, as of 2006 satellite links accounted for only 1% of international phone/internet traffic, with the remainder from submarine cables. With Greg's Cable Map you can pan/zoom around and click on specific cables to learn more.
The one aspect I'd like to see integrated with this resource is a global bathymetry dataset (e.g., this 30 arc-second global map from GEBCO) used as the basemap. Even if the paths of the cables weren't extremely accurate it would be interesting to see where they go in relation to major seafloor features.
The creator of this resource, Greg Mahlknecht, did all this on his own because he wanted a free version of such a map and figured he might as well be the one to do it. Awesome.
Also check out this article from Nature earlier this year about the fantastic idea to use old and existing seafloor cables for science.
