US sets out to map its icy continental shelf
12th August 2008
The Reuters news agency has reported that a U.S. Coast Guard cutter is soon to embark on a voyage to determine the extent of the continental shelf north of Alaska and to map the ocean floor, in the course of a three-week journey commencing August 14.
The vessel, The Healy, is to launch again on September 6, when it will be joined by Canadian scientists aboard an icebreaker, who will help collect data to determine the thickness of sediment in the region – which is one of a number of factors which can be used to define an extended continental shelf.
The news agency reported US State Department Margaret Hays as saying that its intended destinations represented "places nobody's gone before” and that the data collected would provide information to the public about future oil and natural gas sources for the United States.
She also suggested that the US believed that the Alaskan continental shelf might lie up to 600 nautical miles from the coastline, far beyond the 200-mile (322-km) limit where coastal countries have sovereign rights over natural resources.
The Reuters news agency has reported that a U.S. Coast Guard cutter is soon to embark on a voyage to determine the extent of the continental shelf north of Alaska and to map the ocean floor, in the course of a three-week journey commencing August 14.
The vessel, The Healy, is to launch again on September 6, when it will be joined by Canadian scientists aboard an icebreaker, who will help collect data to determine the thickness of sediment in the region – which is one of a number of factors which can be used to define an extended continental shelf.
The news agency reported US State Department Margaret Hays as saying that its intended destinations represented "places nobody's gone before” and that the data collected would provide information to the public about future oil and natural gas sources for the United States.
She also suggested that the US believed that the Alaskan continental shelf might lie up to 600 nautical miles from the coastline, far beyond the 200-mile (322-km) limit where coastal countries have sovereign rights over natural resources.