Arctic Heat Up

[Barlonglong]

Russia Both Russian mini-subs surface after symbolic North Pole dive -1 21:20 | 02/ 08/ 2007 http://en.rian.ru/russia/20070802/70229618-print.html (Adds details, background, Lavrov and Gryzlov quotes in paras 2-8)

MOSCOW, August 2 (RIA Novosti) - Two Russian mini-submarines have surfaced after a more than eight-hour dive to the North Pole seabed, in a symbolic Russian expedition to claim Arctic territory, the Vesti-24 TV channel reported Thursday.

Russian researchers in submersibles Mir-1 and Mir-2 traveled 4,200 meters (14,000 feet) below the Pole, and planted a titanium Russian flag on the seabed.

The dive is designed to bolster Russia's claim to 1.2 million sq kilometers (about 460,000 sq miles) of energy-rich territory - the underwater Lomonosov and Mendeleyev Ridges named after Russian scientists - which the country says is the continuation of its continental shelf.

As man-made climate change melts the polar ice, vast reserves of oil and gas under the seafloor are likely to become accessible in future decades.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, speaking from the Philippines, said: "The goal of this expedition is not to stake Russia's claim, but to prove that our shelf spreads to the North Pole." The minister said he hoped the expedition would "allow us to acquire additional scientific proof" of this claim.

Boris Gryzlov, speaker of the upper house of Russia's parliament, said the dive marked a new stage in exploring Russia's polar resources.

"These are large-scale projects to explore and develop the shelf, which meet Russia's strategic interests," the speaker said. "I am proud that our country has retained leading positions in Arctic exploration."

Canadian Foreign Minister Peter MacKay, whose country also has a large section of Arctic territorial waters, dismissed Russia's symbolic flag-planting as a meaningless gesture that does not strengthen its territorial claim

[Barlonglong]

Canada to strengthen Arctic claim

 

Mr Harper said Canada has a "real, growing" Arctic presence

 

 

As the race to back up claims over the resources of the Arctic Ocean heats up, Canada has said it will build two new military bases in its far north.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper made the announcement during a tour of Canada's northern territories.

It comes as a Danish mission prepares to sail to the North Pole to map the seabed under the ice.

Last week, a Russian expedition planted the country's flag on the floor of the Arctic Ocean under the North Pole.

'Use it or lose it'

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Mr Harper said a cold-weather army training base would be set up at Resolute Bay and an existing port at a former mine at Nanisivik would be refurbished to supply Arctic patrol vessels. [/size]

He said the facilities would bolster Canada's claims to disputed portions of the Arctic.

"Canada's new government understands that the first principle of Arctic sovereignty is use it or lose it," Mr Harper said from Resolute, a small Inuit community about 600km (372 miles) south of the North Pole.

"Today's announcements tell the world that Canada has real, growing, long-term presence in the Arctic."

Polar missions

Melting polar ice has led to competing claims over access to Arctic resources, including the Northwest Passage, a shipping channel between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans currently blocked by ice during the winter months.

The Arctic Ocean is believed to be rich in oil and gas reserves

Mr Harper announced plans last month to build six naval vessels to patrol the passage.

Canada, Russia, Denmark, Norway and the United States also have competing claims to the seabed below the North Pole, an area containing as much as 25% of the world's undiscovered oil and gas according to a US study.

The area is not currently regarded as part of any single country's territory and is governed instead by complex international agreements.

Last week a Russian expedition sent a mini-submarine to the ocean floor four kilometres (2.5 miles) below the North Pole to further Moscow's claim to the Arctic.

Moscow argues that waters off its northern coast extending to the North Pole belong to its maritime territory because an underwater feature, the Lomonosov Ridge, is an extension of its continental territory.

On Sunday, Denmark is sending a month-long expedition to the North Pole to study the same underwater ridge to see if it is connected to Greenland, a Danish territory.

The Danish team plans collect data to map the seabed under the ice.

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RUSSIA'S ARCTIC CLAIM 1) North Pole: Russia leaves its flag on the seabed, 4,000m (13,100ft) beneath the surface, as part of its claims for oil and gas reserves.

2) Lomonosov Ridge: Russia argues that this underwater feature is an extension of its continental territory and is looking for evidence.

3) 200-nautical mile (370km) line: Shows how far countries' agreed economic area extends beyond their coastline. Often set from outlying islands.

4) Russian-claimed territory: The bid to claim a vast area is being closely watched by other countries. Some could follow suit.

Edited August 14, 2007 by Barlonglong

[Barlonglong]

Danes set for North Pole mission

Denmark wants to determine how far Greenland extends north

 

Danish researchers plan to set sail for the North Pole on Sunday to collect geological data, on a mission similar to Russia's one last week.

The month-long Danish expedition will study the Lomonosov Ridge. Russia believes the underwater feature is linked to its territory.

Denmark will investigate the ridge to see if it is geologically connected to Greenland, a Danish territory.

Canada, Norway and the US also have claims in the Arctic.

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The area is believed to be rich in oil and gas reserves, which global warming could make easier to extract as the ice melts. [/size]

 

The Danish mission, called Lomrog (Lomonosov Ridge off Greenland), is supported by a Swedish icebreaker called Oden and a Russian nuclear icebreaker called 50 let Pobedy (50 Years of Victory).

The team plans to collect bathymetric, gravity and seismic data to map the seabed under the ice, according to a Danish science and technology ministry statement on the expedition.

It is due to sail from Tromsoe in northern Norway, returning to Norway's remote Svalbard islands on 17 August.

The lead researchers are Martin Jakobsson from Stockholm University in Sweden and Christian Marcussen from Denmark's GEUS (Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland).

The North Pole seabed is not currently regarded as part of any single country's territory and is governed instead by complex international agreements.

In a unique expedition last week, Russian explorers planted a flag on the seabed 4,200m (14,000ft) below the pole.

The move drew derision from Canada, with Foreign Minister Peter MacKay likening it to tactics used in the 15th Century.

Canada and the US are also engaged in a dispute over the future of the Northwest Passage, the partially frozen waterway that links the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Edited August 14, 2007 by Barlonglong

[Barlonglong]

After Russia and Canada, U.S. ship headed for Arctic

Mon Aug 13, 2007 6:15PM EDT By Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent[

b]REUTERS/Fred Chartrand/Pool[/b]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -

 

A U.S. Coast Guard cutter is headed to the Arctic this week on a mapping mission to determine whether part of this area can be considered U.S. territory, after recent polar forays by Russia and Canada.

The four-week cruise of the Coast Guard Cutter Healy starts Friday and aims to map the sea floor on the northern Chukchi Cap, an underwater plateau that extends from Alaska's North Slope some 500 miles northward.

This is the third such U.S. Arctic mapping cruise -- others were in 2003 and 2004 -- and is not a response to a Russian mission this month to place a flag at the North Pole seabed, or a newly announced Canadian plan for an Arctic port, U.S. scientists said.

"This cruise was planned for three years and we've had the earlier cruises; this is part of a long and ongoing program, not at all a direct response," said Larry Mayer of the University of New Hampshire, who will be on the voyage.

So why are the countries with Arctic coastlines all heading northward now?

Under the U.N. Law of the Sea treaty, every coastal state that has the potential to claim some part of the Arctic's undersea mineral wealth must make a claim to the U.N. Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf.

The United States is not now a party to the sea treaty, but Mayer and Andy Armstrong, a scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, held out hope that Washington might join.

Armstrong, who will also be aboard the U.S. cutter, acknowledged that this cruise will "map the location of features that would have a role in the U.S. extension of the continental shelf."

Most of the area the scientists want to map will be covered in ice, even in the northern summer. They will use an echo sounder that bounces many bits of sound in a swath across the sea floor, Mayer said by telephone.

"We don't map just a single spot beneath the vessel," Mayer said. "We can map a wide swath beneath the vessel in relatively high resolution."

The mission will look for features specified by the treaty, including the place where the slope turns into the flat plain of the deep sea bottom, Armstrong said on the same phone call.

Coastal states have rights to resources of the sea floor of their continental shelves. Under the Law of the Sea, a country gets 200 nautical miles of continental shelf automatically but may extend that if it meets certain geologic criteria, the oceanic administration said in a statement.

The Bush administration wants Senate consent to join the Law of the Sea convention, which would give the United States the same rights as other treaty parties to protect coastal and ocean resources.

Edited August 14, 2007 by Barlonglong

[Kingcopa]

All of them are just interested in the OIL below there.

[Vidz]

just make sure your kids know how to swim well...

[Kingcopa]

If this realli happen, no matter how well u swim also useless. Just enjoy while we can

[Vidz]

i don trust the russians...

Edited August 15, 2007 by Vidz

[Kingcopa]

When it come this type of thing, u cant trust anyone. The American and Canadian aint that holy themselves

[Vidz]

when the earth is dying or failing, all they see is more juice to sqeeze...

[Metalslug]

"day after tomorrow" is here! run for your lives!