Denmark closer to the North Pole
Recently collected geological data strengthen Denmark’s and Greenlandic territorial claims to the North Pole.
- We have made progress and are optimistic, says Christian Marcussen from the Geological Survey of Denmark, quoted by The Copenhagen Post.
Denmark hopes it can be proven that the continental shelf extends from Greenland to the North Pole, a distance of 380 nautical miles. Also Russia and Canada could claim that their continental shelf extends towards the North Pole. The three countries have competing claims in the high Arctic. The United States Congress has not yet ratified the Law of the Sea.
Norway has already got its continental shelf claim approved by the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, as reported by BarentsObserver earlier this year.
Denmark will log its final continental shelf claims by 2014. The Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf is a United Nation body of specialized undersea geographers and hydrographers established under the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention.
