New Arctic sea floor mapping data could bolster US claims, scientists say

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – New mapping data could bolster any claims the U.S. might make in the Arctic as countries including Canada in the region compete for potentially rich reserves of oil, gas and minerals buried beneath the sea floor, U.S. scientists said Monday.

Federal officials said the data would support the U.S. should it choose to jockey with Russia, Canada and other circumpolar nations under the international Law of the Sea treaty to carve out boundaries off their northern coasts.


The Law of the Sea confers sovereign rights over a country’s continental shelf beyond the normal boundary of 200 nautical miles if the country can substantiate its claims through scientific evidence.

Bathymetric soundings taken last year showed the foot of Alaska’s continental slope extending more than 100 nautical miles farther from the U.S. coast than previously believed, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“We found evidence that the foot of the slope was much farther out than we thought,” said Larry Mayer, the chief scientist for the expedition last year. “That was the big discovery.”

AP