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Mission: To clarify the outer border of Russia`s continental shelf |
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 [22.7.10]
The flagship of Russia’s polar fleet “Academician Fyodorov” has left for the Arctic on an expedition to clarify the outer border of the country’s continental shelf. It will take 50 scientists on board in St. Petersburg for its 90-day expedition. The scientists will study the Lomonosov Ridge and the Mendeleev Rise in the Arctic with the assistance of the nuclear-powered icebreaker Yamal for 75 days.
Experts say that almost 7 percent of explored oil reserves in the world and 30 percent of gas are under the Arctic shelf. Moreover, there are large reserves of diamonds, gold and minerals. Another promising area is the possibility of laying shipping routes through the Arctic. Scientists insist that it is possible to open shipping routes from Russia’s European part to America or Asia within ten years owing to global warming. Earlier, basically Russia alone studied the Arctic as it has the largest sector in the Arctic shelf, but several countries, including China, which is not an Arctic littoral, have recently focused on the region.
China that is experiencing a shortage of fuel has already sent its icebreaker “Xuelong” or “Snow Dragon” twice to the North Pole and launched a research station on Spitsbergen.
Meanwhile, Denmark is attempting to prove that the Lomonosov Ridge is geographically linked to Greenland. If this is proved, the country will declare that the North Pole belongs to Denmark. Norway, on its part, is claiming 175 thousand square kilometers of the Russian shelf in the Barents Sea, where huge reserves of oil and gas condensate have recently been discovered.
The ongoing expedition is aimed at clarifying the border of the Arctic shelf and handing over the details to a relevant UN commission, says the deputy director of the Arctic and Antarctic Scientific Research Institute, Alexander Danilov.
“Russia has never launched such an expedition to substantiate the outer border of its continental shelf,” says Alexander Danilov.
“The results of a precise study will be the basis of a report that will be presented to the UN Commission by the Russian Federation. We have to prove that the deeper sector of the Arctic is the continuation of the Russian shelf. If the evidence is convincing, then Russia will increase its territory by additional millions of square kilometers,” Alexander Danilov said.
The research ship is equipped with advanced equipment, including multi-ray echo depth detector that measures the depth of the ocean in many points simultaneously and determines the relief of the bed.
This will be used to determine the outer border of the Russian continental shelf. In 2001, Russia submitted a document on its shelf to the United Nations. Since then, a great amount of research has been carried out.
This expedition will provide some more evidence and proof to confirm Russia’s claims to the Arctic shelf.
[ (Source: ”The Voice of Russia”) russia-media.RU Murmansk & Shtokman News / FLAIT Murmansk ]
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