Rising seas threaten to flood thousands of miles of internet cables within the next decade.
Next time you scroll through social media or stream a video, think about this unsettling reality: the physical cables that carry your internet connection are sitting just inches above rising seawater along America’s coastlines. Most people assume the internet lives “in the cloud,” but it actually runs through thousands of miles of fiber optic cables buried underground, and many of those cables are about to get very, very wet.
Climate scientists and internet infrastructure experts have been studying what happens when these two forces collide, and their findings should make anyone who depends on reliable internet connection deeply concerned. Sea levels are rising faster than anticipated, and the bulk of America’s internet backbone was installed decades ago when nobody thought ocean water would reach inland fiber networks.
