Canadian Coast Guard Ship Louis S. St-Laurent (foreground) and U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy in the Beaufort Sea, September 2008. |
Joint U.S.-Canadian Icebreaker Surveys in the Arctic Ocean
In August and September 2008, a scientific expedition mapped unexplored Arctic Ocean sea floor where the United States and Canada may have sovereign rights over natural resources such as minerals, oil, and gas. Scientists from the USGS and the Canadian Geological Survey jointly conducted bathymetric surveys (mapping of sea-floor depths) and seismic-reflection surveys (imaging of rock and sediment layers beneath the sea floor) in the Beaufort Sea, a part of the Arctic Ocean north of Alaska and western Canada. The data gathered during this highly successful mission will improve understanding of the regional geology and help both countries establish the outer limits of their extended continental shelves according to criteria set out in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The extended continental shelf—the sea floor and sub-sea floor beyond 200 nautical miles from shore that meet UNCLOS criteria—is an area of great scientific interest and potential economic development.
Read the entire article.
|
U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
