Seismikkundersøkelser lenger mot nord

Et russisk forskningsfartøy assistert av en isbryter er på ekspedisjon utenfor sonen på 200 mil for å samle geofysiske data. Resultatene vil danne basis for Russlands krav om å utvide grensene på kontinentalsokkelen, skriver russiske Arctic-Info.com:

The seismic survey will take place in the Vilkitsky bend, Povodnikov, Amundsen, Nansen and Makarov hollows and the shelf in the Laptev and East Siberian seas. It is planned that the Yamal icebreaker will be used in these works until mid-September. The research area will be about 350,000 km².

Work will be carried out as part of a government contract, concluded between OJSC MAGE and Rosnedra.

Under international law, the North Pole and the adjoining region of the Arctic Ocean do not belong to any one country. However, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia and the United States have a 370 km exclusive economic zone off their coasts.

If Russia proves that Mendeleev and Lomonosov ridges are a geological extension of the Russian continental shelf, then Russia will be able to obtain the right to explore for hydrocarbons in the triangle of the Chukotka-Murmansk-North Pole region with an area of 1.2 million km². In 2001, the Russian bid was rejected by the UN Commission because of a lack of information.