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Room: Ballroom E

Date: 4/17/2026

Session Time: 4:30 PM to 5:45 PM (local time)

Fiber-Optic Sensing Applications in Seismology and Environmental Science

Fiber-optic sensing methods, such as Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS), Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS) and Distributed Strain Sensing (DSS), are transforming seismology by advancing our understanding of seismic sources and Earth's structure. These innovative technologies convert fiber-optic cables into dense sensor arrays capable of capturing seismic and deformation signals across the solid Earth, oceans and glaciers with unprecedented resolution. We invite contributions on recent developments in fiber-optic seismology applications, including, but not limited to, the detection and characterization of various seismic sources (e.g., earthquakes, icequakes, volcanic activities, ocean processes, atmospheric phenomena, energy extraction and storage activities and anthropogenic signals), Earth's structure imaging (e.g., urban setting, offshore and cryosphere), environmental monitoring (e.g., the dynamics of oceans, rivers, lakes, critical zones, soil moisture, groundwater, permafrost and glaciers) and natural hazard mitigation (e.g., earthquake, landslides, tsunami and volcanic eruption monitoring and early warning). We also welcome recent engineering advancements in the theoretical, methodological and instrumental aspects of fiber-optic sensing for future Earth and planetary applications, with particular interest in the state-of-the-art use of transmission fibers in operational subsea cables. Contributions from the computational and data science communities focused on exploring fiber-optic data are encouraged, including areas such as machine learning, advanced signal processing techniques, data compression, high-performance computing and cloud computing and storage. We aim to bring together researchers from diverse fields, including Earth science, computational and data science and fiber-optic sensing engineering, to open a discussion on the future opportunities enabled by these new technologies.

Conveners

Mahbubah Ahmed, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (mahbubah@vt.edu)
Ettore Biondi, Stanford University (ettore88@stanford.edu)
Xiaowei Chen, Texas A&M University (xiaowei.chen@tamu.edu)
Valey Kamalov, International Institute for Ocean Fiber Sensing (vkamalov@gmail.com)
Voon Hui Lai, Australian National University (voonhui.lai@anu.edu.au)
Jiaxuan Li, University of Houston (jxli@uh.edu)
Mikael Mazur, Nokia Bell Labs (Mikael.mazur@nokia-bell-labs.com)
Meghan C. Quinn, U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (meghan.c.quinn@usace.army.mil)
Qibin Shi, Rice University (qs20@rice.edu)
Joseph P. Vantassel, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (jpvantassel@vt.edu)
Qiushi Zhai, California Institute of Technology (qzhai@caltech.edu)

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