Canada, U.S. Get Hot for Arctic

Global warming is making it easier than ever to explore the Arctic -- and maybe even exploit all that natural gas under the polar cap. So now, four countries (at least) are in a worldwide scramble to claim the North Pole as their own.

The latest move comes from the U.S. Coast Guard, which is planning its first operating base" in the Arctic region, according to the New York Times.

The Coast Guard says its base, which would probably be near the United States’ northernmost town, Barrow, Alaska, on the North Slope coast, would be seasonal and would initially have just a helicopter equipped for cold-weather operations and several small boats.

But given continued warming, that small base, which could be in place by next spring, would be expanded later...

A new survey by American oceanographers of the seafloor north of Alaska, completed last month aboard the Coast Guard icebreaker Healy, provides fresh evidence that the United States has much at stake in the region. The sonar studies found hints that thousands of square miles of additional seafloor could potentially be under American control. That floor might yield important deposits of oil, gas or minerals in coming decades, government studies have concluded.

So far did the sea ice pull back this summer that the expedition was able to scan the bottom several hundred miles farther north than in previous surveys, said the project’s director, Larry Mayer, an oceanographer at the University of New Hampshire. The team found long sloping extensions 200 miles beyond previous estimates.

Tell that to the Canucks. In a speech this week, Prime Minister Stephen Harper declared the Arctic to be "an essential part of Canada's history." So he proposed a building a new "world-class arctic research station." He drew up a new mission to map Canada's Arctic sea bed -- "never before has this part of Canada's ocean floor been fully mapped," Harper said. And he outlined new military efforts up North -- on top of the expansion that's already gone down.

Defending our sovereignty in the North also demands that we maintain the capacity to act. New arctic patrol ships and expanded aerial surveillance will guard Canada's Far North and the Northwest Passage.
As well, the size and capabilities of the Arctic Rangers will be expanded to better patrol our vast Arctic territory.

It'll be interesting to see how the Russians and the Danes, among others, respond.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, the Brits are making moves of their own, as Time notes.

The United Kingdom has decided to lay claim to 385,000 sq mi (1 million sq km) of seabed off the coast of Antarctica, despite being a signatory to the 1959 treaty that was supposed to protect the earth's most desolate continent from the vagaries of international competition.

"The slice of Antarctica claimed by Britain overlaps competing claims by
Chile and Argentina and is second in size only to the area claimed by
Australia," a local paper from Oz observes.

Stay tuned.

(High five: CA)

ALSO:

* North Pole Cage Match
* Let the Arctic Wars Begin!
* Arctic Warfare Heats Up: Canadians Step In
* U.S. Readies for Polar Warfare