Canada contemplates Arctic claim beyond North Pole

The federal scientist leading Canada's quest to secure thousands of square kilometres of seabed territory in the Arctic Ocean says the country's grasp for potential undersea oil and other submerged resources could reach beyond the North Pole - a prospect likely to put Canada on a diplomatic collision course with polar rivals Russia and Denmark.

Dr. Jacob Verhoef, the Halifax-based director of Natural Resources Canada's Atlantic division, told Canwest News Service the Canadian government has yet to decide whether it will authorize ocean-bottom surveys on the Eurasian side of the pole, where geologists from Russia have been gathering data for its planned claim for an extended continental shelf off Siberia's northern coast.

The contentious territory is along the Lomonosov Ridge, an undersea mountain range that stretches an estimated 2,000 kilometres from the Danish-Canadian boundary waters north of Greenland and Ellesmere Island, directly past the North Pole and across the Arctic Ocean toward the Siberian coast.

Russian, Canadian and Danish researchers have all been collecting sea floor geological data suggesting the ridge is a natural extension of their respective national landmasses - the key criteria under a UN treaty that allows countries to expand their jurisdiction over offshore territory well past the current limit of 350 km from the coast.

Last summer, Russia sparked what has been widely described as a "race" for the North Pole and a "rush" for Arctic Ocean oil - increasingly accessible because of the melting polar ice cap - by sending a mini-submarine to plant a flag at the North Pole sea floor.

Under Verhoef's direction, Canadian researchers have been amassing what he calls "very positive" evidence that the Lomonosov Ridge - as well as a second undersea mountain to the west, Alpha Ridge, and offshore parts of the Beaufort Sea - constitutes a "natural prolongation" of the North American continent.

More detailed data needs to be gathered in all three areas of the Arctic before Canada makes its submission under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea before a 2013 deadline.
"Theoretically," said Verhoef, if the Lomonosov Ridge is proven to be attached to North America, then Canada (as well as Denmark) "could use it to extend its outer limits beyond the pole. The same could be true for Russia, now measuring from the other side."

Asked if Canada intended to conduct seabed research on the far side of the pole before submitting its UN claim, Verhoef said, "The gathering of data beyond the pole is not our highest priority," but added that, time permitting, "We may decide to collect some additional data in that area."

It's a decision, he noted, that would have to take into account the "political realities and ramifications."

Verhoef stated: "Presently, we do not have enough information about the depth structure of that ridge to say how far it can be used," for the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea submission.

"Once all the information has been collected," he added, "our outer limit could abut with that of Russia, or there could be a gap in between or we could have an overlap. It all depends on the data."

University of Alberta political scientist Rob Huebert, an expert in sovereignty issues, has been pushing for Canada to be as comprehensive as possible in collecting Arctic Ocean sea floor data.

At a Parliamentary committee in March, Huebert urged the federal government to direct Verhoef's team to push their research to the limit - even if it means annoying Moscow and its flag-planting scientists.

"The Russians are trying to convince us to go to the pole and use the pole as the dividing feature," Huebert told the committee. "If we accept that argument and, if the ridge allows us to go that far, we shortchange ourselves in terms of access to oil and gas."

Last week, at a polar summit in Greenland, senior ministers from the five countries with Arctic Ocean coasts - including Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn and Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov - vowed to let science and international law resolve the division of the polar continental shelf.

Asked if Russia could claim seabed territory on the North American side of the North Pole, Lavrov downplayed the issue as a "sexy subject" for the media - "flags on the seabed, somebody from this side of the globe getting over the pole and grabbing some land from somebody else."

He called the question "hypothetical" and didn't directly respond, saying: "Whatever is scientifically proven will be accepted."

Lunn said: "This is a rules-based process. The rules are very clear . . . We'll all submit our respective claims based on science."

But polar experts say science and law won't ultimately solve major overlaps in competing claims between Canada, Russia and Denmark.

Huebert said Canada will have to decide whether to risk a diplomatic confrontation with Russia as it plans the next stage of its Lomonosov Ridge research and, ultimately, the scope of its Arctic claims.

"For us to go over the top depends on two issues," he told Canwest News Service last week. "Will the science allow us to go over? And will we have the political will to go over? We may have the right to do it - if we are willing to stand up to the Russians."