Strange failure of an undersea cable. No clues as to what might have happened. Russia cannot be excluded

Norway is again having problems with the undersea cable off the coast of Hovden that powers the Lofoten-Vesterålen Marine Observatory (LoVe). According to scientists, power to the systems went out on May 9. The failure occurred three years after the previous one, when the cable was interrupted in 2021. Since then, it has been under repair, which has just been disrupted –

Cable failure in Norway. Russia cannot be ruled out

Researchers are monitoring the movement of ships passing over the cable, but they have not yet been able to determine what caused the failure. Therefore, they plan to carry out measurements and tests, and for this purpose they may have to inspect the instrumentation on site. The problems are the same as in 2021, but scientists don’t know if the cable has been cut again.

– It’s hard to say what’s behind it. Perhaps the cable was broken by the ship’s fishing net. If this is government sabotage, we can’t rule out underwater activity. But there could also have been a technical failure, said Tom Rødseth, professor of intelligence at the Swedish Defense School. He added that Russia’s action cannot be ruled out, because the cable powered devices that were used, among others, to observe Russian army submarines.

The Norwegian cable doesn’t work. It was used to observe nature and ships

Scientists expect the reasons for the cable failure to be clear within a week or two. The LoVe marine observatory studies the seabed. Microphones, photographic equipment and various sensors are connected to the cable. Thanks to this, the institution tracks, among others: the population and migration of cod, observes deep-sea corals, and seabirds. Using the cable, you can also track the movement of ships.