Arctic cold war gets hotter again - August 13, 2008
Canada and the United States have announced a joint survey of the Arctic continental shelf, in the latest move in the ‘claim the Arctic chess game’.
Canada’s icebreaker Louis S. St.-Laurent and the US Coast Guard’s Healy will sail in August, rendezvousing around September 8 to collect information that could end up being submitted to the UN as part of a claim for rights to the sea floor (Canadian government press release). The Healy is also undertaking a separate cruise to produce a 3D map of the Arctic seafloor (US press release).
“These are places nobody's gone before, in essence, so this is a first step,” says Margaret Hays, head of oceanic affairs at the US State Department (Reuters).
Of course America will first have to ratify the treaty that allows sea floor claims (something Canada has already done).
Headline watch
Arctic rivals break ice, exchange expertise – CanWest News
Previous moves in the Arctic game from the Great Beyond
Mapping the Arctic dispute - August 06, 2008
Sea floor claims madness - April 21, 2008
Russian pole stunt’s American origin - February 19, 2008
Northwest passage in ice opens – September 17, 2007
And related from Nature
The long summer begins
Arctic mapping redraws borders
Russia at forefront of Arctic land-grab
Image: Healy stock photo / NOAA
