The past few days have seen a return to the exploring spirit of 16th and 17th centuries, as well as a return to the national competition of the 60’s and 70’s.
Within a few hours, Russia plans to place a flag on the Arctic sea bed, hoping to bolster their claims to over 460,000 square miles of the Arctic, and access to the vast resources that lie underneath.
A USGS study says over 25% of the world’s untapped gas and oil reserves lie north of the Arctic Circle. According to international law, countries bordering the Arctic region can extend their territorial waters beyond 200 nautical miles off their coast if they can prove that the seafloor is a natural extension of their country. Russia’s claim would give it over a third of the Arctic. Both Denmark and Canada have similar claims, and they’re getting worried.
Essentially, it’s a contentious war over geology that’s tied in to an area called the Lomonosov Ridge. All three countries say that the Lomonosov Ridge originated from their continental shelf, 57 million years ago.
Kathryn Moran of the University of Rhode Island studied the ridge as part of the 2004 Arctic Coring Expedition. She explained that the Lomonosov Ridge is a part of an extension of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which spreads open the center of the Atlantic Ocean. 57 million years ago, the Lomonosov Ridge became active and broke off from the continental margin that is part of Russia and Northern Scandinavia. And over the past 57 million years, this sliver of continental shelf has moved closer to the center of the Arctic Ocean.
“When we drilled went into the sediment and the bedrock, we proved that the Lomonosov Ridge originated from that,” Moran said. “So that’s why they can claim it. But the Russians have never asked us.”
Far north oil exploration has been going on since melting sea ice has begun to make the Arctic more accessible, and drilling an easier possibility. Shell, BP, and ExxonMobil all have vested interests in extending the drilling that’s already happening off Alaska’s North Slope. But Moran is skeptical about oil near the Lomonosov Ridge.
“I’ve looked at where they’re laying their claim and where we drilled is their outside edge, and there is no oil there,” she said. “There’s other resources they’re interested in. One of the other issues I think will be important is controlling the transportation routes. Let’s say there is increased sea-ice degradation over the next 20 to 30 years. That means that the Northeast Passage, which is the route across the Arctic Ocean, reduces the distance from a European port to Japan by about a third. If you control those waterways you can have fees, and basically control one of the most lucrative transportation routes in the world.”
There’s a lot at stake here for Russia, and some see the underwater flag as a symbolic gesture, echoing the US flag on the moon. But perhaps there’s even more at stake for the Arctic itself, which has gained a reputation for being one of the most sensitive places on Earth.
Seems rather greedy, divisionist and anti-environment, doesn’t it? By the way, there is a new Arctic film out from the makers of “March of the Penguins.” I haven’t seen it, but it is supposed to be fantastic. It is called “Arctic Tale”:
http://www.arctictale.com/
LS
We got there first but are too stupid to claim resources. Russia will make a mess and we will beat our chests and give up more in missplaced guilt.
There can only be one big dog. If not us, the prize will go to Russia and/or China. This will result in world war once again.
The Lomonosov ridge is about 50 mi wide by 1000 mi long, it runs from 45 deg to 150 deg longitude across the North Pole. When one looks at the undersea topography it is clear that, both ends drop down to a 1000 meter sea bed and are not attached to the continental shelves of either Greenland or Russia.
The UN Maritime Convention 2001 ruling against Russia is not likely to be overturned since the ridge doesn’t connect to anyone’s continental shelf.
http://www.rcom.marum.de/Binaries/Binary8172/Karte_Arktis.jpg
57 million years ago? Were there even mammals then? Isn’t Russia about 56million 998thousand years too late?
An update on this story: The Russian subs have dropped the flag and happily resurfaced.
The US and Canada reply:
Kathryn Moran said that these claims will probably be settled in international court. Whatever decision is made, it should take into account the necessity of environmental stewardship in the Arctic. It’s a critical time to be fighting over such a thing.
Also, here’s a good summary of what’s up for grabs in the Arctic sweepstakes.
I caught this story in by RSS reader because of all the talk about flags. I like the concise explanation you’ve made about the continental shelves and the basis for all the claims.
It does seem a little silly at this stage in time to claim territory by flag planting, although, our Moon flag would give significance to the practice. It will be fun to watch the debate over this.
Thanks for reading, Larry! I hope you continue to visit the blog.
The practice of flag planting is interesting because it’s almost exclusively symbolic these days. Russia has admitted that the flag itself doesn’t actually mean anything, but it’s gotten quite a few feathers ruffled with its implied intent.
Northern Ireland has been trying to deal with a flag issue for some time now.
Perhaps with Russian goodwill, the sea bed might be a good place to put some of them.
If they need any ‘energy’ producing material, there seems to be plenty of that available also.
George