http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/20 ... rctic.html
Broken ship halts Russian expedition to claim Arctic seabed
Last Updated: Wednesday, July 25, 2007 | 4:41 PM CT
CBC News
A Russian expedition that was set to explore and claim the Arctic for the Kremlin, by planting a Russian flag on the seabed at the North Pole, suddenly ground to a halt Wednesday when a research ship broke down.
Ottawa recently announced plans to buy new Arctic patrol ships, but critics say it needs to buy new icebreakers to replace its aging fleet.
(CBC)
The research ship Akademik Fyodorov suffered engine failure one day after it sailed from the northern port of Murmansk and was drifting in the Barents Sea about 111 kilometres (60 nautical miles) from the shore, state-run Rossiya TV reported.
The Rossiya nuclear-powered icebreaker, which was leading the expedition, turned back to help and was expected to reach the stricken vessel Thursday.
"We are heading back to Akademik Fyodorov to give it technical assistance," expedition leader Artur Chilingarov said in televised remarks aboard the icebreaker.
Another assistance team was sent from Murmansk, Rossiya reported. It was not immediately clear how long it would take to fix the problem.
The engine failure dealt a blow to the mission, which is aimed at finding evidence that the seabed is geographically linked to Russia and thus part of its territory.
"The Arctic is Russian," Chilingarov said before the mission departed Tuesday. "We are going to be the first to put a flag there, a Russian flag at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean, at the very point of the North Pole."
Explorers were expected to launch mini-submarines on Sunday, after the icebreaker smashed a hole in the ice, the Associated Press reported. The three-person submarine crew had planned to carry out scientific experiments before planting a titanium flag on the seabed.
Under international law, the five Arctic countries — Canada, Russia, the United States, Norway and Denmark (through Greenland) — control an economic zone within 320 kilometres of their continental shelf.
But the definition of the limits of that shelf are in dispute. Moscow has claimed a portion extending as far as the North Pole, claiming the Arctic seabed and Siberia are linked through the same continental shelf, the Lomonosov Ridge.
Moscow maintains it has a right to the mineral riches beneath a chunk of the Arctic sea bed the size of Germany, France and Italy combined. Scientists also believe that climate change could cause Arctic ice to melt, opening up the Northwest Passage as a shipping route.
Aside from the Russian claim that it is connected to the Eurasian continent, scientists in Canada and Denmark have argued that the ridge is an extension of their continental shelf.
The undersea Lomonosov Ridge runs some 1,800 kilometres across the Arctic ocean, stretching from islands off Siberia to Canada's Ellesmere Island.
In April, scientists from both countries resumed collaborative research to map the Lomonosov ridge from northern Ellesmere Island almost to the North Pole. Their research could determine whether either country or both can claim sovereignty over the area.
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced Ottawa was buying eight new Arctic patrol ships and building a deepwater port to help assert Canada's authority in the North.
"It is no exaggeration to say that the need to assert our sovereignty and protect our territorial integrity in the North on our terms has never been more urgent," Harper said.
Opposition politicians criticized the move, saying the ships are smaller and lighter than the three naval ice-breakers Harper promised to buy during the election campaign. Harper said the lighter ships would be able to patrol more of the coastline.
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Is this statement not a little bit concerning?
"The Arctic is Russian," Chilingarov said before the mission departed Tuesday. "We are going to be the first to put a flag there, a Russian flag at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean, at the very point of the North Pole."
Russia to claim North Pole
Moderators: sky's the limit, sepia, Sulako, lilfssister, North Shore
Russia to claim North Pole
"It is well that the people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning." --Henry Ford
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Siddley Hawker
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This is why Hans Island is so important.
Its a stupid little (1 mile square) piece of rock in the Robson Channel between Greenland and Ellesmere Island (Canada).
I flew a number of times over Hans Island in 2004 out of YLT. The captain and I thought in retrospect that it would have been funny if we had a box of Canadian flags and each time we passed over it we tossed a flag out with a rock attached....he with the most flags wins!!
Is it of any use? Not really but if we loose the challenge that Denmark has presented us with it does establish a precident that Canada's borders are open to dispute....the Americans are already arguing that the US/Canada border in fact does not follow the meridian between Alaska and Yukon to the NP. They are arguing that it heads east and therefore would allow more of the seabed and some of the continental shelf to be explored, exploited, and sold by them.
So joke if you want but I don't like the thought of the Russians planting a flag there....it just ends up being yet another sovereignty battle for us to fight. And its not one that we can defend with the seasonal ice breakers that Harper has promised!
Cheers,
ETTW
Its a stupid little (1 mile square) piece of rock in the Robson Channel between Greenland and Ellesmere Island (Canada).
I flew a number of times over Hans Island in 2004 out of YLT. The captain and I thought in retrospect that it would have been funny if we had a box of Canadian flags and each time we passed over it we tossed a flag out with a rock attached....he with the most flags wins!!
Is it of any use? Not really but if we loose the challenge that Denmark has presented us with it does establish a precident that Canada's borders are open to dispute....the Americans are already arguing that the US/Canada border in fact does not follow the meridian between Alaska and Yukon to the NP. They are arguing that it heads east and therefore would allow more of the seabed and some of the continental shelf to be explored, exploited, and sold by them.
So joke if you want but I don't like the thought of the Russians planting a flag there....it just ends up being yet another sovereignty battle for us to fight. And its not one that we can defend with the seasonal ice breakers that Harper has promised!
Cheers,
ETTW
1. The company pays me to make money for it.
2. If the company doesn't make money neither do I
3. I still hate simulators
2. If the company doesn't make money neither do I
3. I still hate simulators
We have those Arctic Rangers or whatever they're called with the dogs, the sleds and the Lee-Enfields. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee-Enfield The Lee-Enfield is about as perfect a rifle as perfect gets. Let's make more and make more Inuit to defend with them.
"FLY THE AIRPLANE"!
http://www.youtube.com/hazatude
http://www.youtube.com/hazatude
Hey we're not stupid.istp wrote:It's gonna be wild in 50 years when oil tankers are busting apart in the Northwest Passage.
The kids will be saying, "why didn't the people do anything about this years ago?"
To which I will respond, "then, like now, Canadians were too stupid."
-istp
We're polite.
bmc
Russia leads race for North Pole oil
The Arctic's untapped resources include huge reserves of fuel and minerals. Now Moscow has raised tensions by dispatching an expedition to annex a vast expanse of the ocean.
Jamie Doward, Robin McKie and Tom Parfitt
Sunday July 29, 2007
The Observer
In the darkest depths of the Arctic Ocean a new Cold War is brewing. American and British nuclear submarines lurk in the shadows, preparing for company.
'Why has Britain been sending submarines into Arctic waters?' asked Rob Huebert, associate director of the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies in Calgary. 'Because it wants to retain its capability to deal with the Russian threat.'
Such talk is redolent of a Le Carré novel. But the battle between the West and Russia over who owns the Arctic has been building for years. Last week it entered a new phase when Russia announced it was sending a miniature submarine, equipped with a team of explorers, to claim a chunk of the Arctic Ocean the size of Western Europe.
Article continues
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The stakes are high. The ocean is home to vast oil and mineral reserves as well as massive shoals of fish and strategically important shipping lanes. 'It could get very ugly,' Huebert said. 'Nobody knows how much oil and gas is down there. Shell, for example, is quite pessimistic, but the likes of Exxon are quite gung-ho. I've seen some people make the case that up to 18 per cent of the world's oil reserves are there - that's getting into Saudi Arabia's league.'
To symbolise its claim, Russia will plant its flag on the sea bed before taking samples it believes will prove the Lomonosov Ridge, which runs underneath the Arctic Ocean, is an extension of the Siberian continental shelf and therefore Russian territory.
The expedition is led by Artur Chilingarov, Russia's most famous explorer. A sturdy 68-year-old with a sweeping salt-and-pepper beard, last week he could be seen pacing the decks of his ship, the Akademik Fyodorov, followed by a posse of state television journalists who filed breathless accounts of the groundbreaking voyage.
'The Arctic is Russian,' Chilingarov told the media scrum. 'We must prove the North Pole is an extension of the Russian coastal shelf. Of course, [the expedition] is important in terms of science, but also in terms of geopolitics as well.'
There has never been a manned journey to the sea bed of the North Pole. 'Who knows, we may even discover some as yet unknown organism,' said Valery Kuznetsov, head of the expedition's oceanography team.
In 2001, Russia made a similar claim to the Arctic Ocean but its evidence was disputed. An official panel of experts backed by the UN has been established to consider claims and Russia is determined to prove its case. A UN convention dictates that countries bordering the Arctic Ocean can exploit resources within a 200-nautical-mile economic zone of their territory. But this can be extended if a country can, as the Russians are attempting, prove the continental shelf beneath the ocean is connected to their land.
So far the US has refused to engage in the debate over extending exploitation rights, a policy throwback to the Eighties when the Reagan administration feared such an action would see large parts of the Arctic handed over to the Soviets.
Meanwhile, Canada and Denmark, through its sovereignty over Greenland, claim that the Lomonosov Ridge is connected to their territories and therefore the ocean is effectively their property. In a sign of how tense the situation is becoming, the Canadian government recently placed a C$7bn (£3.25bn) order for new naval patrol vessels, a move that Prime Minister Stephen Harper said was designed to 'defend its sovereignty over the Arctic'.
But the battle for the Arctic is fast becoming a global issue. Melting ice has meant the opening up of the North West Passage to commercial shipping is now possible in the summer months and, given rising temperatures, a possibility all year round in the future. The opening up of the passage can shorten the distance ships have to travel between Europe and Asia by up to 2,000 nautical miles over the established trade route through the Panama Canal.
Given the area's geopolitical importance, it is no surprise Britain is closely monitoring the situation as part of its commitment to Nato. 'Britain has been sending Trafalgar SSN-class submarines to the Arctic since 1986 because it wants to retain its under-ice capability,' said Huebert, who predicted it would not be long before their sonar registers the presence of an old foe. 'The Russians are rebuilding their navy,' Huebert said. 'They've just launched a submarine for the first time since 1987 and they've placed orders for three more.'
Soaring oil prices have created a new urgency among the countries competing to make their claim. When oil prices were low it was considered uneconomic to tap into the Arctic Ocean's reserves. But with China and India now desperate for energy, oil prices are spiralling. Experts say oil prices of around $70 a barrel makes drilling in the Arctic a viable proposition. In 2004, a joint Swedish and Russian venture proved it was possible to drill into the ocean's floor from a rig secured by three ships.
Nor is oil the only resource that is ripe for exploitation in the thawing north. There are also large mineral deposits and coal beds in the Arctic, for example. In addition, there is the prospect of opening up vast new fish reserves as ice cover disappears over the Arctic Ocean. For several years, British research vessels from Dunstaffnage Marine Research Station, near Oban, have been studying these stocks.
'There is strong evidence that there are still good reserves of fish such as cod and capelin in some regions of the Arctic,' said Prof Graham Shimmield, Dunstaffnage's director. 'However, these are probably the world's last refuges. We should restrain ourselves from catching them on an industrial scale until we learn more about how strong they are. It remains to be seen whether that will happen, however.'
The rush to exploit the Arctic worries other scientists. They point out that the region is important because the effects of climate change are more pronounced here, and arrive earlier, than in any other part of the world. When things go wrong, they are first noticed in the Arctic. But if oil companies and mining firms start pumping out carbon dioxide and other waste as they open up the region, the pristine conditions that have helped scientists make past observations will be destroyed, obscuring our view of our dangerously warming world.
This problem is already an issue in the archipelago of Svalbard where European scientists are studying glacier retreat, carbon emissions and other effects of pollution, but are having their work hampered by the emissions from coal mines dug by the Russians.
Tensions are already running high in the Arctic, it would seem. Nevertheless, hopes remain that a diplomatic conclusion can be achieved to resolve what has been dubbed the 'battle for the North Pole'.
'We must wake up to the fact that the Arctic is going to become a much busier area,' Huebert said. 'And try to produce a solution that will provide an equitable, fair and safe division of resources. We cannot just proceed with the old unilateral approach.'
Observers point to the Antarctic Treaty, which severely limits the exploitation of the land mass around the South Pole. No waste disposal, no mining, no introduction of animal species and no commercial work have been allowed on the continent for more than 40 years. Some diplomats have suggested that a similar set of rules could be agreed for the Arctic. Such a plan is unlikely to succeed, however. 'Countries agreed to the Antarctic Treaty as a way to save money,' said a senior UK official. 'The South Pole is an expensive place to exploit and it was realised that if everyone agreed not to touch it, they could all rest easy about pouring millions into the area. This is not the issue with the Arctic. It is becoming easier and easier to exploit. Nations aren't going to give up on these rich pickings.
Hence the Russian expedition - although this has not gone totally smoothly so far. Last week the Akademik Fyodorov was forced to send out a distress signal and then drifted for several hours because of an engine failure. It has since made good progress towards the pole and the first research dives from the ship are expected to take place tomorrow.
During its journey last week a mysterious aircraft appeared above the Akademik Fyodorov, causing a ripple of excitement among the journalists on board. Russian media widely reported the aircraft to be a Nato spy plane. It may have been paranoia but in the frozen waters around the North Pole one thing is certain: the days of the Cold War are back.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007
I wonder when they will start drilling and if the people the Russins will be selling the oil and gas to will be supporting the Russian claims to the artic in the UN ???Will the Seven Sisters lose this one to ROP ???
The Arctic's untapped resources include huge reserves of fuel and minerals. Now Moscow has raised tensions by dispatching an expedition to annex a vast expanse of the ocean.
Jamie Doward, Robin McKie and Tom Parfitt
Sunday July 29, 2007
The Observer
In the darkest depths of the Arctic Ocean a new Cold War is brewing. American and British nuclear submarines lurk in the shadows, preparing for company.
'Why has Britain been sending submarines into Arctic waters?' asked Rob Huebert, associate director of the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies in Calgary. 'Because it wants to retain its capability to deal with the Russian threat.'
Such talk is redolent of a Le Carré novel. But the battle between the West and Russia over who owns the Arctic has been building for years. Last week it entered a new phase when Russia announced it was sending a miniature submarine, equipped with a team of explorers, to claim a chunk of the Arctic Ocean the size of Western Europe.
Article continues
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The stakes are high. The ocean is home to vast oil and mineral reserves as well as massive shoals of fish and strategically important shipping lanes. 'It could get very ugly,' Huebert said. 'Nobody knows how much oil and gas is down there. Shell, for example, is quite pessimistic, but the likes of Exxon are quite gung-ho. I've seen some people make the case that up to 18 per cent of the world's oil reserves are there - that's getting into Saudi Arabia's league.'
To symbolise its claim, Russia will plant its flag on the sea bed before taking samples it believes will prove the Lomonosov Ridge, which runs underneath the Arctic Ocean, is an extension of the Siberian continental shelf and therefore Russian territory.
The expedition is led by Artur Chilingarov, Russia's most famous explorer. A sturdy 68-year-old with a sweeping salt-and-pepper beard, last week he could be seen pacing the decks of his ship, the Akademik Fyodorov, followed by a posse of state television journalists who filed breathless accounts of the groundbreaking voyage.
'The Arctic is Russian,' Chilingarov told the media scrum. 'We must prove the North Pole is an extension of the Russian coastal shelf. Of course, [the expedition] is important in terms of science, but also in terms of geopolitics as well.'
There has never been a manned journey to the sea bed of the North Pole. 'Who knows, we may even discover some as yet unknown organism,' said Valery Kuznetsov, head of the expedition's oceanography team.
In 2001, Russia made a similar claim to the Arctic Ocean but its evidence was disputed. An official panel of experts backed by the UN has been established to consider claims and Russia is determined to prove its case. A UN convention dictates that countries bordering the Arctic Ocean can exploit resources within a 200-nautical-mile economic zone of their territory. But this can be extended if a country can, as the Russians are attempting, prove the continental shelf beneath the ocean is connected to their land.
So far the US has refused to engage in the debate over extending exploitation rights, a policy throwback to the Eighties when the Reagan administration feared such an action would see large parts of the Arctic handed over to the Soviets.
Meanwhile, Canada and Denmark, through its sovereignty over Greenland, claim that the Lomonosov Ridge is connected to their territories and therefore the ocean is effectively their property. In a sign of how tense the situation is becoming, the Canadian government recently placed a C$7bn (£3.25bn) order for new naval patrol vessels, a move that Prime Minister Stephen Harper said was designed to 'defend its sovereignty over the Arctic'.
But the battle for the Arctic is fast becoming a global issue. Melting ice has meant the opening up of the North West Passage to commercial shipping is now possible in the summer months and, given rising temperatures, a possibility all year round in the future. The opening up of the passage can shorten the distance ships have to travel between Europe and Asia by up to 2,000 nautical miles over the established trade route through the Panama Canal.
Given the area's geopolitical importance, it is no surprise Britain is closely monitoring the situation as part of its commitment to Nato. 'Britain has been sending Trafalgar SSN-class submarines to the Arctic since 1986 because it wants to retain its under-ice capability,' said Huebert, who predicted it would not be long before their sonar registers the presence of an old foe. 'The Russians are rebuilding their navy,' Huebert said. 'They've just launched a submarine for the first time since 1987 and they've placed orders for three more.'
Soaring oil prices have created a new urgency among the countries competing to make their claim. When oil prices were low it was considered uneconomic to tap into the Arctic Ocean's reserves. But with China and India now desperate for energy, oil prices are spiralling. Experts say oil prices of around $70 a barrel makes drilling in the Arctic a viable proposition. In 2004, a joint Swedish and Russian venture proved it was possible to drill into the ocean's floor from a rig secured by three ships.
Nor is oil the only resource that is ripe for exploitation in the thawing north. There are also large mineral deposits and coal beds in the Arctic, for example. In addition, there is the prospect of opening up vast new fish reserves as ice cover disappears over the Arctic Ocean. For several years, British research vessels from Dunstaffnage Marine Research Station, near Oban, have been studying these stocks.
'There is strong evidence that there are still good reserves of fish such as cod and capelin in some regions of the Arctic,' said Prof Graham Shimmield, Dunstaffnage's director. 'However, these are probably the world's last refuges. We should restrain ourselves from catching them on an industrial scale until we learn more about how strong they are. It remains to be seen whether that will happen, however.'
The rush to exploit the Arctic worries other scientists. They point out that the region is important because the effects of climate change are more pronounced here, and arrive earlier, than in any other part of the world. When things go wrong, they are first noticed in the Arctic. But if oil companies and mining firms start pumping out carbon dioxide and other waste as they open up the region, the pristine conditions that have helped scientists make past observations will be destroyed, obscuring our view of our dangerously warming world.
This problem is already an issue in the archipelago of Svalbard where European scientists are studying glacier retreat, carbon emissions and other effects of pollution, but are having their work hampered by the emissions from coal mines dug by the Russians.
Tensions are already running high in the Arctic, it would seem. Nevertheless, hopes remain that a diplomatic conclusion can be achieved to resolve what has been dubbed the 'battle for the North Pole'.
'We must wake up to the fact that the Arctic is going to become a much busier area,' Huebert said. 'And try to produce a solution that will provide an equitable, fair and safe division of resources. We cannot just proceed with the old unilateral approach.'
Observers point to the Antarctic Treaty, which severely limits the exploitation of the land mass around the South Pole. No waste disposal, no mining, no introduction of animal species and no commercial work have been allowed on the continent for more than 40 years. Some diplomats have suggested that a similar set of rules could be agreed for the Arctic. Such a plan is unlikely to succeed, however. 'Countries agreed to the Antarctic Treaty as a way to save money,' said a senior UK official. 'The South Pole is an expensive place to exploit and it was realised that if everyone agreed not to touch it, they could all rest easy about pouring millions into the area. This is not the issue with the Arctic. It is becoming easier and easier to exploit. Nations aren't going to give up on these rich pickings.
Hence the Russian expedition - although this has not gone totally smoothly so far. Last week the Akademik Fyodorov was forced to send out a distress signal and then drifted for several hours because of an engine failure. It has since made good progress towards the pole and the first research dives from the ship are expected to take place tomorrow.
During its journey last week a mysterious aircraft appeared above the Akademik Fyodorov, causing a ripple of excitement among the journalists on board. Russian media widely reported the aircraft to be a Nato spy plane. It may have been paranoia but in the frozen waters around the North Pole one thing is certain: the days of the Cold War are back.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007
I wonder when they will start drilling and if the people the Russins will be selling the oil and gas to will be supporting the Russian claims to the artic in the UN ???Will the Seven Sisters lose this one to ROP ???
