PsychoticDan
26-07-2007, 21:23
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19952934/
MOSCOW - Thawing sea ice in the Arctic could have a chilling effect on ties among countries that share the area, especially now that a Russian ship is headed for the North Pole. The expedition plans to send a mini-submarine crew to plant a flag on the seabed and symbolically claim the Arctic for the Kremlin.
"The Arctic is Russian," expedition leader and parliamentary deputy Artur Chilingarov told Russian television. "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."
The mission is part of a race to assert rights over the Arctic, which is rich in oil and natural gas deposits. Moreover, as climate change melts the ice, the region could open up to form a lucrative shortcut for ships sailing between Asia and North America.
Environmentalists worry that warming and economic opportunities will expose the area to environmental threats. Already, shrinking sea ice in the summer means less habitat for polar bears, which could face extinction this century.
Looking for geographical link
The Akademik Fyodorov research ship, which set sail Tuesday from the northern port of Murmansk, resumed its voyage Thursday after a bad engine forced a day's delay. Joining it is the Rossiya nuclear-powered icebreaker.
Russian scientists aim to find evidence that the North Pole sea bed is geographically linked to Russia and thus part of its territory.
Two mini-submarines are to be launched from the Akademik Fyodorov in the next few days to confirm the work of an earlier Russian expedition, which said it found the link between the Eurasian continent and the underwater Lomonosov Ridge that runs across the North Pole.
The sea is between 13,000 and 15,000 feet deep at the North Pole, the team members said.
Russian scientists have long maintained that Moscow has a right to the mineral riches beneath a chunk of the Arctic sea bed the size of Germany, France and Italy combined. The region is estimated to contain up to 10 billion cubic meters of hydrocarbons, along with diamonds and metal ores.
Under international law, the five Arctic countries — Russia, the United States, Canada, Norway and Denmark (through Greenland) — control an economic zone within 200 miles of their continental shelf. But the definition of the limits of that shelf are in dispute.
Russia first laid claim to wide swathes of undersea Arctic territory in the United Nations in 2001. But the four other polar countries have objected to this bid. Danish scientists maintain the Lomonosov Ridge is an extension of Greenland, making Denmark another claimant to the North Pole and its environs.
Titanium capsule for flag
After reaching the sea floor under the North Pole, Russia's mini-subs will leave a titanium capsule containing the Russian flag, Anatoly Sagalevich, the subs' designer, told Russia's NTV. The subs will also collect specimens of Arctic flora and fauna and videotape the dives, which will be broadcast live via a satellite, he said.
"Russian submarines will be the first to travel along the ocean floor under the North Pole," he claimed, although Russian, U.S. and other military submarines have routinely operated in the Arctic for decades.
The first submarine to travel under the North Pole was the U.S. nuclear submarine the USS Nautilus in 1958 but it did not stop on the sea floor.
Sagalevich said a similar Russian mission planned for 1998 had had to be ditched when Russian financial markets crashed.
The Soviet Union had extensive Arctic and Antarctic research and exploration programs, and Soviet polar explorers were showered with accolades and hailed as national heroes. Those programs shrank dramatically in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union.
This week's polar cruise is part of the recent revival of Russian polar programs.
MOSCOW - Thawing sea ice in the Arctic could have a chilling effect on ties among countries that share the area, especially now that a Russian ship is headed for the North Pole. The expedition plans to send a mini-submarine crew to plant a flag on the seabed and symbolically claim the Arctic for the Kremlin.
"The Arctic is Russian," expedition leader and parliamentary deputy Artur Chilingarov told Russian television. "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."
The mission is part of a race to assert rights over the Arctic, which is rich in oil and natural gas deposits. Moreover, as climate change melts the ice, the region could open up to form a lucrative shortcut for ships sailing between Asia and North America.
Environmentalists worry that warming and economic opportunities will expose the area to environmental threats. Already, shrinking sea ice in the summer means less habitat for polar bears, which could face extinction this century.
Looking for geographical link
The Akademik Fyodorov research ship, which set sail Tuesday from the northern port of Murmansk, resumed its voyage Thursday after a bad engine forced a day's delay. Joining it is the Rossiya nuclear-powered icebreaker.
Russian scientists aim to find evidence that the North Pole sea bed is geographically linked to Russia and thus part of its territory.
Two mini-submarines are to be launched from the Akademik Fyodorov in the next few days to confirm the work of an earlier Russian expedition, which said it found the link between the Eurasian continent and the underwater Lomonosov Ridge that runs across the North Pole.
The sea is between 13,000 and 15,000 feet deep at the North Pole, the team members said.
Russian scientists have long maintained that Moscow has a right to the mineral riches beneath a chunk of the Arctic sea bed the size of Germany, France and Italy combined. The region is estimated to contain up to 10 billion cubic meters of hydrocarbons, along with diamonds and metal ores.
Under international law, the five Arctic countries — Russia, the United States, Canada, Norway and Denmark (through Greenland) — control an economic zone within 200 miles of their continental shelf. But the definition of the limits of that shelf are in dispute.
Russia first laid claim to wide swathes of undersea Arctic territory in the United Nations in 2001. But the four other polar countries have objected to this bid. Danish scientists maintain the Lomonosov Ridge is an extension of Greenland, making Denmark another claimant to the North Pole and its environs.
Titanium capsule for flag
After reaching the sea floor under the North Pole, Russia's mini-subs will leave a titanium capsule containing the Russian flag, Anatoly Sagalevich, the subs' designer, told Russia's NTV. The subs will also collect specimens of Arctic flora and fauna and videotape the dives, which will be broadcast live via a satellite, he said.
"Russian submarines will be the first to travel along the ocean floor under the North Pole," he claimed, although Russian, U.S. and other military submarines have routinely operated in the Arctic for decades.
The first submarine to travel under the North Pole was the U.S. nuclear submarine the USS Nautilus in 1958 but it did not stop on the sea floor.
Sagalevich said a similar Russian mission planned for 1998 had had to be ditched when Russian financial markets crashed.
The Soviet Union had extensive Arctic and Antarctic research and exploration programs, and Soviet polar explorers were showered with accolades and hailed as national heroes. Those programs shrank dramatically in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union.
This week's polar cruise is part of the recent revival of Russian polar programs.