Corrosion enhancement of an undersea repeater due to the hall effect

The analysis of the failure mechanism of an undersea telecommunication repeater has pointed to the corrosion-accelerating electric current generated by the Hall effect. The interaction between the earth´s magnetic field and the moving ionic sea water of the Gulf Stream produced an electric potential on the outer conductor of the coaxial cable. With an outer-conductor fracture there was a net unbalance of induced circulating electrical current in each repeater section. This paper considers the velocity profile of the Gulf Stream across the cable route, measured Hall potentials on other cable systems, the interfacial resistance of a repeater housing in sea water, and the continuity of the cable outer conductor to show that the necessary conditions for corrosion acceleration were indeed satisfied.