Important submarine Arctic cable has partially failed
Ironically, at a point where the submarine cable goes steeply into the deep sea at 2,700 meters, there was a power failure. One of the twin cables is affected.
One of the world’s most important submarine arctic cables, the Svalbard Undersea Cable System, is damaged. The operator Space Norway explained (PDF) that one of the two twin cables has failed since last Friday and needs to be repaired.
“There is a fault in the power supply in an area where the cable runs steeply from around 300 meters to around 2,700 meters into the deep sea,” said Space Norway. The Svalbard Undersea Cable System connects Svalbard, a group of islands in the Arctic Circle, with mainland Norway. A deep-sea cable-laying vessel is required for the repairs.
The two submarine cables are 1,375 and 1,339 kilometers long and the state-owned Space Norway emphasized that the connection is still working, but there is no longer any redundancy.
The two fiber optic cables consist of two sections, from Harstad to Breivik in Andøy and from Breivik to Hotellneset near Longyearbyen in Svalbard.
More than 100 satellite antennas are located on a nearby mountain in a SvalSat satellite park halfway between mainland Norway and the North Pole. The Longyearbyen settlement is also supplied with internet via the submarine cable. The SvalSat satellite park is the world’s largest commercial ground station with customers around the world. Because of its location, SvalSat is in great demand with satellite operators in polar orbit as it is one of only two ground stations that can download data every time the earth rotates.
The Norwegian Minister for Justice and Public Security, Emilie Enger Mehl, said: “I have been informed that an error has occurred on one of the two fiber optic connections between Svalbard and mainland Norway. Communication to and from Svalbard is still going as usual, although the connection is now down.”
