Translated material
War of the North and North
The United States sends coastal guard with a research mission to the Arctic, Reuters reports. The purpose of the expedition, which will begin on Friday, is the study of the seabed in the area of the Chukchi rise - an underwater plateau, which extends from the northern tip of Alaska by about 805 km to the north.
The expedition members must apply to the specification card and determine whether part of the studied territory of the American is the same.
“This expedition was planned for three years, moreover, it is not the first,” the agency of one of its members Larry Mayer quotes. “This is part of the long -term program, and not at all the answer [to the actions of other states].” At the same time, the university recognizes that during the expedition to the map, relief elements will be applied that could help the United States in expanding the boundaries of its continental shelf.
At the beginning of last week, Russian deep -sea devices went down to the bottom of the Arctic Ocean at the North Pole. They took samples of soil, water and flora from a depth of 4261 meters. In addition, the flag of Russia was hoisted at the bottom of the ocean.
Arctic waters formally do not belong to a single country. According to existing international agreements, the countries of the region can declare their economic zone the areas of the continental shelf if they can prove that this shelf is a continuation of their territory.
After the Russian expedition, other countries of the region also began to declare claims to Arctic waters. So, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who is on a tour in the Arctic, said that his country intends to build two military facilities there in order to consolidate its presence in the region. According to him, one of these objects will be a training center, and the other will be a deep -sea port.
The next day, Denmark announced the beginning of its Arctic expedition, designed to explore Lomonosov’s ridge after Russian bathyscaphe.