US and Canada Embark on Joint Effort to Map Disputed Area in Beaufort Sea
28.07.2010 - Water & Oceans, Land & Geology, Arctic
For the first time since they embarked on a joint Canada-US seabed mapping project, the Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker Louis St. Laurent will join the US Coast Guard cutter Healy to explore a supposedly resource-rich part of the Beaufort Sea claimed by both countries while doing research on sea ice conditions and ocean acidification.
While both vessels have been working together to map the Arctic seabed for the last three years, they are now approaching a disputed area of 21, 000 km² in the Beaufort Sea. The dispute over the Beaufort Sea area comes from a different interpretation of the way to determine its border: the US believe that the sea border should go out at a 90-degree angle from the coast at the Canada-US border, whereas Canada thinks the border should continue along the 141st meridian, which serves as most of the land border between the State of Alaska and the Yukon Territory.
The joint venture, which is to be conducted from August 2nd to September 14th, will help define the outer edge of the North American continental shelf in the Arctic Ocean and provide the US and Canada with the data they need to stake new claims to the Arctic seabed under the United National Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). This treaty, which has not yet been ratified by the US, allows member countries to claim sea floor to the edge of their extended continental shelves, beyond the 380 kilometers (200 nautical miles) currently allotted to them under UNCLOS.
