The renewed interest in the Arctic could be for both of the following reasons but in addition some countries are looking for ways to claim the North Pole as their own.
Russia has returned to the Arctic for good and China has just set up their first scientific research station in the Arctic area maybe in part for gas hydrate research. #msg-3760127
But it now looks like both Russia and China are also probably monitoring the U.S. future missile defense system in north-western Greenland among other things. #msg-3767753 #msg-3769207
-Am
Like Canada and Russia, Denmark eyes North Pole
Oct. 1, 2004. 12:07 PM ASSOCIATED PRESS
COPENHAGEN - Denmark is looking for ways to claim the North Pole as its own, contending that Greenland may be connected to huge a ridge beneath the floating Arctic ice, the country's science and technology minister said today. The northern tip of Greenland, the world's largest island that is also a semi-independent Danish territory, is only some 800 kilometres south of the North Pole.
Because of that, Denmark has joined Canada and Russia in charting the Arctic Ocean's seabed to see if international laws can support a claim of ownership.
The question Danish scientists are trying resolve is where Greenland's continental socket ends and where the ocean sea floor begins. Underneath the North Pole, the roughly 2,000-kilometre Lomonosov Ridge runs from north of Greenland to north of Siberia in Russia.
If high-tech measurements prove that Greenland's socket is attached to the ridge, "maybe there is a chance that the North Pole could become Danish," said Danish cabinet minister Helge Sander.
"We must be able to argue that it is a natural extension" of Greenland, added Trine Dahl-Jensen of the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland.
Before January, the Danish parliament will ratify the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, Sander said. The 1986 convention allows coastal countries an economic zone extending 370 kilometres from their shores. If the socket is part of Greenland, then it stands to reason the North Pole could be part of Denmark.
By 2014, Denmark will map four other uncharted areas around Greenland and the Faeroe Islands, another Danish semi-independent territory, with the hope of being able to claim that Denmark's current economic zone should be extended.
Since the spring of 2004, teams of experts have used sonar, seismological instruments, Global Positioning Satellite data and have drilled in the seabed in the five areas to surface information and samples.
Last year, Denmark allocated some $31 million Cdn for the project. But the
mapping could be a bonanza.
"It could give us access to natural resources, there could be oil and gas," Sander said, a reference to the riches neighbouring Norway, the world's third-largest oil exporter, has enjoyed.
Russia, which also is likely to claim ownership of the Lomonosov Ridge, and Canada, also are making similar investigations around the North Pole.
Last year, Ottawa allocated $70 million Cdn for such seabed mapping, said Allan Boldt of the Science and Technology Department.
British and Danish scientists are working together to map a roughly 1,000-kilometre long zone stretching southwest of the Faeroe Islands and west of the British Isles.
Only the countries that have ratified the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea can make claims, Boldt said.
Of the countries surrounding the North Pole, Norway, Russia and Canada have signed the document, while the United States has not. A date for Denmark's ratification has not been set yet, Sander said.
The North Pole is an ocean covered by ice and therefore falls under the UN convention.
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