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Canada, US join up to collect scientific data on Arctic shelf

Canada and the US will join forces to gather scientific data on the Arctic continental shelf, in a step aimed in part at bolstering claims over the potentially oil-rich zone, Ottawa and Washington announced on Monday.

Minister of Natural Resources Gary Lunn said Canada and the US would conduct a joint survey of the undersea polar continental shelf in the western Arctic beginning next month.

The Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker Louis S. St.-Laurent will rendezvous with the US Coast Guard Healy in the Beaufort Sea, north of Canada and Alaska, on or about Sept. 8 for the three-week joint operation.

“Through collaboration with our US neighbors, we will maximize both scientific and financial resources while collecting important data as part of Canada’s submission to the UN by 2013,” Lunn said in a statement.

Canada has until the end of that year to submit data on the extent of its continental shelf to the UN.

The study was announced just days after Canadian representatives presented findings from a joint Canadian-Danish survey in the eastern Arctic as part of Ottawa’s intent to extend Canada’s territory beyond the current 200 nautical miles (370km).

Last week Lunn said the research determined the Lomonosov Ridge is attached to the North American and Greenland plates, challenging a Russian claim to part of the Arctic.

That could add up to 1.75 million square kilometers to Canada’s claims in the region, Lunn said.

The Healy will be charged with mapping the ocean floor, while the Louis S. St. Laurent will work to determine the thickness of sediment.

Five countries that border the Arctic Ocean — Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia and the US — dispute the sovereignty of the region’s waters.

The US Geological Survey believes the Arctic region contains 90 billion barrels of oil waiting to be explored.
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