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US and Canada to delineate outer limits of Arctic continental shelf
last update: Jul 29, 2010 02:27 PM
From various articles: This week, the United States said it will work with Canada in the next few weeks to delineate the outer limits of the Arctic's continental shelf, a region believed to contain vast oil and gas reserves.
The US State Department said that coast guard ships from the US and Canada will map the shape of the disputed area's seafloor and determine sediment thickness as part of a survey from August 7 to September 3. "The mission will help delineate the outer limits of the continental shelf in the Arctic Ocean for the US and Canada," it said in a statement. It "will also include the collection of data in the disputed area where the US and Canada have not agreed to a maritime boundary. Coastal States have sovereign rights over the natural resources of their continental shelves. Both the US and Canada will be collecting scientific information to satisfy the criteria for delineating the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles as set forth in the Convention on the Law of the Sea," it added.
The 2010 continental shelf survey mission will cover regions over the Canada Basin, the Beaufort Shelf, and the Alpha Mendeleev Ridge.
An US Geological Survey in 2008 said that within the Arctic circle there are 90 billion barrels of oil and vast quantities of natural gas waiting to be tapped, most of it offshore.
Read more:
AFP / Google, 27th July 2010
Anchorage Daily News, 27th July 2010
