North pole who owns

About halfway across, there is a single jag that sticks a couple of hundred kilometres toward the Barents Sea. And there, just below the point of the elbow, under about 4, m of frigid water, lies the geographic North Pole. The Russians laid claim in to a section of it that includes the pole, and a glance at a relief chart would suggest their claim has merit.

By all appearances, the ridge is an extension of the Eurasian continent. The project has amassed an impressive array of data, from the depth of silt across our Arctic shallows to the constitution of the rock going 40 km down.

But the geological origins of the Lomonosov Ridge? We used to think it was ours. Back in , Canada raised eyebrows around the world by declaring as our maritime boundaries the 60th and st western meridians, a pie-slice expanse between Alaska and Greenland that converged at, and presumably included the pole. A few months later, the Soviet Presidium passed a law declaring an even larger Arctic domain on its side of the globe, while the recognition of Greenland as Danish territory in suggested a potential claim for that country between the 60th and 10th western meridians.

These declarations were driven in part by fears of U. But given that the waters in question were encased year-round in ice, none of it much mattered. Change, however, was on the way, and few witnessed its impact like Richard Weber, an adventure guide from Alcove, Que. Weber, now 51, vividly recalls his first trip in , an American-led sled-dog expedition that took him across plains of ice dozens of kilometres wide to the mountainous pressure ridges at the edges of each pan.

But on his last trip, in , those blue walls had all but disappeared—victims of the rapid warming of the polar climate. In their place lay long expanses of crumpled ice just a metre thick, punctuated by the occasional ridge that stood two or three metres high.

In the summer, puddles of water now form on top of the pans, then freeze into mini ice rinks. The geopolitical implications of this transformation are nearly as great as the ecological ones. With the northern climate warming by an estimated 0. All of which has lent renewed relevance to the question of who will hold sway over this tract of the globe once it becomes navigable.

The U. Wait what….? As for the North Pole however, according to our current laws and maritime rules, no one owns it. For example in a Russian research submarine went to the waters at the North Pole to gather data to support that it is part of the Russia continental underwater land shelf, to help their claim case.

Whilst there the Russians happened to stick a Russian flag to the seabed. You are commenting using your WordPress. You are commenting using your Google account. You are commenting using your Twitter account. You are commenting using your Facebook account.

Notify me of new comments via email. Notify me of new posts via email. October 13, December 12, White shows the extent of water that sea ice can cover in winter Picture: Canadian Geographic.

Map of all the various claims by everyone and anyone in the North Pole area. Picture taken from a Russian submarine. Read on for explanation. The commission is so backlogged it handles oceanic territorial disputes from all over that a decision can take a decade or more. Competing claims are part of the game. By providing your email, you agree to the Quartz Privacy Policy. Skip to navigation Skip to content. Discover Membership.

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