Our Arctic Neighbors: Russia to explore Arctic continental shelf

Russian polar scientists will conduct an expanded study of the Arctic continental shelf in July as part of “Boundaries of the Russian Continental Shelf,” a program to secure Russia’s claim to the natural resources of the Arctic and the largest expedition mounted by Russia in a decade, RIA Novosti reported in mid-June.

The primary purpose of the study is to put together a relief map of the sea bottom, a map that shows variations in land height, usually by means of contour lines or different colors. The map will be used “to prove that this is our shelf, that it’s not coming from the Canadian side,” said Ivan Frolov, director of the Institute for Arctic and Antarctic Research.

Frolov told RIA Novosti that the research vessel Akademik Fedorov is being readied for the 100-plus-day voyage to the Arctic at a shipyard in Turku, Finland, where it will be fitted with new equipment, including new multibeam echo sounders and will sail for Arkhangelsk before leaving for the Arctic.

Akademik Fedorov transported the mini-submarine to the North Pole in 2007, when the Russian flag was planted on the bottom of the sea under the North Pole.

The vessel will be accompanied by a nuclear powered ice breaker on its trip along the border of the continental shelf. The study area extends from the Laptev Sea to the North Pole and from the North Pole to Wrangel Island, making a triangle covering the Laptev Sea, the Easter Siberian Sea and the Sea of Chukotsk, RIA Novosti reported.

—Petroleum News