Internet cables traversing the seabed can be used to detect earthquakes and tsunamis or to monitor how climate change changes ocean currents.

These telecommunication cables can be used as a giant set of scientific offshore sensors, said the UK National Physical Laboratory (NPL) and its partners, the Telegraph reports.

In this regard, scientists tested the technique on a fiber-optic link between the UK and Canada, and the research was published in Science Magazine.

But because installing permanent sensors to monitor the ocean floor is very costly, only a few exist globally, scientists say.

Otherwise, multiple fiber optic cables carry data across the seas and oceans of the world.

It is estimated that there are more than 430 such worldwide, covering distances of about 1.3 million km.

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