The Northwest Passage

This morning, on National Public Radio, there was a report on how the shrinking Arctic polar icecap may finally open the explorer's dream, the fabled Northwest Passage:

The Arctic may be the world's next geopolitical battleground. Temperatures there are rising faster than anywhere else in the world, and the melting ice will have profound consequences on the roof of the world, opening strategic waterways to shipping, reducing the ice cap on Greenland, and spurring a rush to claim rights to the wealth of natural resources that lie beneath. NPR examines what's at stake, who stands to win and lose, and how this could alter the global dynamic.

This article, first in a six-part series, includes an animation of the diminishing sea ice over the last twenty years.

While this news might have warmed the heart of Sir John Franklin don't tell the Polar Bears...

Apparently, Santa Was Not Consulted

From Thatsaabguy:

One of the biggest geographical battles of recent memory has revolved around the oil-rich, polar-bear-infested, ice-melting home of Kris Kringle, the Arctic Ocean (and, more specifically, who gets to call dibs on the potential oil and gas deposits located therein). Every country with even the slightest possibility of a claim to the top of the globe has come out swinging, in some cases even planting flags on the seabed in the hopes of claiming "finders keepers".

Some countries, like Canada and Russia, have very legitimate claims to the Pole - they do, indeed, own the vast majority of coastline surrounding the Arctic Ocean. Other countries, such as Denmark/Greenland, Norway and the United States, can lay claim to some small portion of the disputed area in one form or another. There's also the argument of Law of the Sea, which only allows each country a 200 nautical mile claim outwards from their coastlines, which leaves vast swaths of the Arctic technically unclaimable.

This week, the normally docile Canadian Parliament got all uppity with Russia, and insisted that their claim to the Lomonosov Range - an underwater mountain range that physically connects the roofs of these two countries - is more valid than that of their Eastern (Northern? Over-The-Top?) counterparts.

With all the melting ice, opening sea passages and continually annoyed polar bears, it's hard to say who will emerge victorious in this kerfluffle, but one thing is certain - we have some shiny maps to consider. Here's Canada's somewhat optimistic outlook:


And another from Russia's also rose-colored viewpoint:
Here's a juicy, confusing map that makes the whole situation clear as mud:



(Link to the original Durham University paper on the whole mess)

Another one from the BBC that clears things up a tiny little bit:

One thing is for certain in all this: a whole lot of people in a whole lot of countries are going to be getting coal in their stockings this holiday season:



The North Pole on Cartophilia

Under the Sea

The seaweed is always greener
In somebody else's lake
You dream about going up there
But that is a big mistake
Just look at the world around you
Right here on the ocean floor
Such wonderful things surround you
What more is you lookin' for?

Under the sea, under the sea
Darling it's better down where it's wetter
Take it from me
Up on the shore they work all day
Out in the sun they slave away
While we're devoting full time to floating
Under the sea, ha ha...

The race is on to see who can reap the most wealth from under the world's oceans. Suddenly there is a scramble to lay claim to the ocean's bed. According to The Economist, the deadline for claiming your share of the ocean floor was May 13.

The rules for this carve-up derive from the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. These gave all countries that had ratified the treaty before May 13th 1999 ten years in which to claim any extension of their continental shelf beyond the normal 200 nautical miles (370km).

(The United States is not a signatory to this treaty.)

In addition to the expected conflicts over Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Ocean claims, a new "cold" war may be in the making for the Arctic Ocean. In 2007, Russia planted a flag under the North Pole. Meanwhile, Canada is telling the rest of the world, Hands Off! "The message is simple: This isn't an unclaimed wasteland. It's active, it's a home - and it's ours."



Possibly conflicting claims in the Arctic Ocean.

Via Kelso’s Corner