(30/03/2023) 

The pilot test has been performed on the Madrid-Valladolid high-speed line using the 30-kilometre stretch of fibre optic installed between Soto del Real (Madrid) and Segovia, which has become a dense network of sensors distributed every 20 metres.

By comparing the signals detected by these sensors with the seismic catalog, the network checks if the fibre optics is capable of detecting earthquakes of magnitude greater than 5.0 degrees anywhere on the earth. The data set that will be obtained will be stored in a public repository to be used by the scientific community.

The great spatial coverage and ease of use are the advantages of the application of this technique in seismology. Thus, with a single piece of equipment it is possible to have thousands of sensors distributed over tens of kilometres, making use of an existing fibre optic network.