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Sovereignty Claims Revived in the Arctic |
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By Stephen Leahy*
An expedition is under way to help Canada and Denmark prove their sovereignty over certain areas of this frozen region, and its potential sources of petroleum and natural gas.
TORONTO, Canada - Canada and Denmark launched a joint expedition in early April to map the floor of the Arctic Ocean and help the two countries prove their claims of sovereignty over areas potentially rich in petroleum and natural gas.
As the months-long winter darkness lifts in Canada's vast Arctic region, helicopters and airplanes are busy ferrying scientists and seismic survey equipment from the two countries for this project costing 50 to 60 million dollars.
No one knows where Canada ends. Its northern boundary has never been mapped because it's covered year round in a blanket of ice five to 10 meters thick.
Although located in Northern Europe, Denmark still considers Greenland, the world's largest island that lies a few dozen kilometers from Canada's Arctic islands, as Danish territory.
"The expedition is a unique, cooperative effort, even though the two countries have overlapping territorial claims," said Rob Huebert, a professor at the Arctic Institute of North America, located at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada.
"By working together, Canada and Denmark can share the costs and agree on the science," Huebert told Tierramérica.
Over the next few weeks, scientists will drill 11 holes through the ice along an underwater mountain range, the Lomonosov Ridge, in the Arctic Ocean.
It divides the Arctic Ocean in half, running 1,800 km from Russia's New Siberian Islands, through the central part of the ocean by the North Pole, and on to Canada's Ellesmere Island and Denmark's Greenland.
Ranging in width from 60 to 200 km, the Lomonosov Ridge rises 3,300 to 3,700 meters above the seabed, but the peaks are at least 1,000 meters underwater.
Discovered in 1948 by Mikhail Lomonosov, a scientist of the former Soviet Union, Russia claims the ridge is an extension of Siberia, and thus territorial claims over a large part of the Arctic.
But Canadian and Danish officials disagree, and claim the ridge is a continuation of their landmasses. They hope to prove this by lowering dynamite charges into the holes drilled through the ice along the ridge.
The underwater sound and pressure waves from the explosions of the dynamite will be tracked by about 150 digital seismometers strung out along the ridge.
The angles and the velocity of the those waves can be used to create a three-dimensional map of the ocean floor and of Lomonsov Ridge.
Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, nations control the undersea resources, primarily fishing and seabed mining, for a distance of 200 nautical miles from their shores.
If Canada or Denmark can prove their continental shelf extends beyond that distance, they can claim the rights to minerals, oil and gas resources on the sea floor up to 350 nautical miles (about 650 km), says Huebert.
"High oil and gas prices are driving this new interest in the Arctic region," Huebert says. Traditionally, Canada has largely ignored its frozen north, which comprises 40 percent of its territory but has relatively few people and a severe climate.
However, as a result of global warming the harsh Arctic climate is mellowing. Already 2 degrees Celsius warmer on average, the region may be 6 to 8 degrees warmer before the year 2100. Sea ice is melting, making the region much more accessible.
The Arctic is one of the last frontiers, representing about 25 percent of the last unexplored potential oil and gas reserves in the world, says Michael Byers, Canada research chair in Global Politics and International Law at the University of British Columbia, in western Canada.
Both Canada and Denmark claim the tiny Hans Island, near Greenland, as their own. Although it will take years of negotiations, Byers expects the two nations to settle their sovereignty claims amicably.
Russia's claims may be more troublesome, but the most challenging of all involves the United States. In particular, a longstanding dispute about the sovereignty of the Northwest Passage -- a sea route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean through Canada's Arctic archipelago.
Although locked in ice year round, the United States has considered it an international strait since the 1950s. "It is going to be very challenging to get the U.S. to changes its position," said Byers.
The European Union and Japan hold similar views now that the Passage has become nearly ice-free in the summer due to global warming. Routes from Europe to the Far East save 4,000 km through the passage, as compared to the current routes through the Panama Canal in Central America.
Canada considers it an internal waterway that cannot be used without express permission. Last week, 46 Canadian soldiers completed a gruelling 4,500 km journey over the ice along the Passage -- the first-ever official mission of what will be an annual expedition.
"This land is ours and this land is still ours," expedition leader Lt.-Col. Drew Artus, was reported as saying.
* Stephen Leahy is a Tierramérica contributor.
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