An ITU-UNESCO/IOC-WMO Joint Task Force has been created to investigate the potential of using submarine telecommunications cables for ocean and climate monitoring and disaster warning.
Source: ITU-UNESCO/IOC-WMO
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU); the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO/IOC); and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) organized a workshop on "Submarine Cables for Ocean/Climate Monitoring and Disaster Warning: Science, Engineering, Business and Law" on 8-9 September 2011 which closed with the adoption of a Call to Action inviting ITU, UNESCO IOC and WMO to establish and coordinate a Joint Task Force to explore the potential of a submarine climate monitoring and disaster warning system.

The Joint Task Force will be composed of experts from the science, engineering, business and law communities.

Under the secretariat support of ITU, the Joint Task Force will, inter alia, develop a strategy and roadmap that could lead to enabling the availability of submarine repeaters equipped with scientific sensors for climate monitoring and disaster risk reduction (tsunamis). It will also analyze the potential renovation and relocation of retired out-of-service cables in this realm.