Researchers have shown for the first time that a fibre-optic cable laid on the glacier’s surface can detect hidden cracks with high precision.

About 8 percent of the ice in the crevasse field investigated comprises ice- and air-filled fractures and crevasses, with 92 percent remaining intact. 

A single fibre-optic cable provides hundreds of measurement points simultaneously and can be laidfacross crevasse fields more quickly and safely than conventional measuring equipment.

Kyoto, Japan -- Massive storms like the 2005 Hurricane Katrina, that cause over $100 billion in damage, were once considered once-in-a-lifetime events. Increasingly, however, they are becoming the norm: a direct result of climate change, which has made large storms more frequent, intense, and slower-moving, deepening their impact.

Hurricanes can damage homes through flooding and strong winds, and insurance claims target both. After the 2022 Hurricane Ian, for example, 44 percent of insurance claims were for flooding and 56 percent were for wind damage. Yet most economic research focuses on flooding because elevation data and hydrological models can predict flood extent, whereas identifying the location and severity of wind damage across a wide area has posed a particular challenge.

Unlike flooding, there is nothing like a dam or levee that can shield an entire community from wind, so the responsibility falls almost entirely on individual homeowners. To mitigate wind damage, Florida enacted the 2001 Florida Building Code -- 2001 FBC -- which required new and re-roofed homes to use stronger roof-to-wall connections, thicker roof decking, and even impact-resistant windows and doors in some areas. Many homeowners had to spend thousands of dollars to reinforce a roof or install impact-resistant features, yet whether these preventative measures proved to be worth the average cost of about $4,930 had remained unclear.