biostudies-literatureSmith JLNatural Environment Research CouncilEMSO ERIC Physical Access Programme7https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC12765012biostudies-literatureUnknown16(1)Offshore earthquakes can cause widespread destruction due to directly propagating seismic vibrations and/or the generation of tsunamis. Early warning of offshore earthquakes is vital, but their location complicates identification of clear early warning (EW) signatures. Distributed acoustic sensing (DAS), applied to offshore fibre-optic cables offers the prospect to improve early warning of offshore events. We use a DAS dataset acquired from a 30 km submarine cable spanning a complex bathymetry, offshore Sicily, to contribute to a proof-of-concept using five regional earthquakes to investigate factors impacting incident body wave detection capabilities. We demonstrate observations for P- and S-waves incident parallel and perpendicular to the cable, and that cable coupling to the surroundingScientific reportsAzimuthal sensitivity and spatio-temporal decimation of data from distributed acoustic sensing on submarine cables for offshore earthquake early warning systems.PMC12765012NE/Z000408/1; NE/Y003365/1; NE/Y005589/1EE-PA_202306_01EP/W524384/1Belal MSmith JLSpingys CEmbriaco DCurtis ANeale JWLythgoe KfalseAzimuthal sensitivity and spatio-temporal decimation of data from distributed acoustic sensing on submarine cables for offshore earthquake early warning systems.Offshore earthquakes can cause widespread destruction due to directly propagating seismic vibrations and/or the generation of tsunamis. Early warning of offshore earthquakes is vital, but their location complicates identification of clear early warning (EW) signatures. Distributed acoustic sensing (DAS), applied to offshore fibre-optic cables offers the prospect to improve early warning of offshore events. We use a DAS dataset acquired from a 30 km submarine cable spanning a complex bathymetry, offshore Sicily, to contribute to a proof-of-concept using five regional earthquakes to investigate factors impacting incident body wave detection capabilities. We demonstrate observations for P- and S-waves incident parallel and perpendicular to the cable, and that cable coupling to the surrounding2025-01-01T00:00:00Z2025 Nov2026-06-06T10:21:10.94Z2026-05-28T03:13:08.506ZS-EPMC127650124129106910.1038/s41598-025-29234-5