Canada’s Arctic mapping effort has now extended beyond the North Pole to an area called Lomonosov Ridge that is also being claimed by Russia. The mapping operation involves aerogravity readings to determine the undersea formation and ridges in the Arctic, and will be submitted to the United Nations by the end of 2013 to support claims under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
The arctic contains a wealth of oil and gas deposits, and there’s an ongoing international effort to stake claim to new areas based on revised rules that place territorial claims at the extent of the continental shelf.
