As the Arctic icecap thins due to global warming, a race is looming to claim ownership of the rich energy resources under the North Pole.
The Russian mission involves a nuclear-powered icebreaker smashing through the ice to clear a path to the Pole for the Akademik Fedorov. This will launch the submersibles to scoop samples from the seabed for research.
The mission will also plant a flag on the seabed under the Pole to symbolically claim the territory for Russia. Soviet and US nuclear submarines have often travelled under the polar icecap, but no one has so far reached the seabed under the Pole, where depths exceed 4,000 meters (13,100 feet).
International law states that the five countries with territory inside the Arctic Circle – Russia, the United States, Canada, Norway, and Denmark through its control of Greenland – can claim only a 320-km (200-mile) zone around their coastlines for economic activity.
But since 2001, Russia has claimed a larger slice extending as far as the Pole, arguing that the Arctic seabed and Siberia are on the same continental shelf.
Russia is doing all it can to stake claim to it. They’ve ruined the vast Siberia Resources, and now look to “clear-cut” some more. What I don’t get is why they think its theirs (yes yes same shelf) and also don’t they realize the EVERY other nation will have an issue with mining the North Pole? Also from what it looks like, the North Pole is melting… But they’d have to either build everything on the ice or on platforms. Kind of hard to claim water…
Isn’t amazing how the same type of people ended up in charge, and everyone cheered them on hoping against hope that they wouldn’t turn Russia back into the U.S.S.R.?
Tags: Geography, Interesting, News, Politics
