Fiber-Optic Cables Become Earthquake Detectors, Boosting Early Warnings

USGS researchers demonstrate that existing fiber‑optic networks can act as distributed acoustic sensing seismometers, predicting magnitude-5.4+ earthquakes about four seconds after initial waves with roughly 79% accuracy—significantly better than ShakeAlert’s ~30% precision. The study used cables between Arcata and Eureka, California (Cal Poly Humboldt collaboration) and suggests broadband infrastructure expansion could improve early warning, including for remote or coastal regions and tsunami monitoring.