Correlation of El Niño 2014-2016 episode with DTS data

Abstract

Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS) has been widely used for infrastructure monitoring. Most common applications are pipeline leak detection prevention and geohazard mitigation as well as power cable thermal rating. The study of the soil-atmosphere thermal interaction reveals that natural phenomenon can be monitored with DTS and buried communication Optical Fiber Cables (OFC). The current article discusses the application of DTS to the monitoring of the effect of Soil-atmosphere thermal interaction showing annual and daily variations. DTS data from over 10 years is analyzed, allowing for the observation of the El Niño 2014-2016 event, which is among the strongest of the recent El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) occurrences. It illustrates how DTS technology and communication backbone can provide data to study environmental effects at a global level.