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Articles

Number 3 (2010)

Sea Floor Mapping in the Arctic: Support for a Potential US Extended Continental Shelf

Submitted
August 13, 2013
Published
2010-03-12

Abstract

For the United States, the greatest opportunity for an extended continental shelf under UNCLOS is in the ice-covered regions of the Arctic north of Alaska. Since 2003, CCOM/JHC has been using the icebreaker Healy equipped with a multibeam echosounder, chirp subbottom profiler, and dredges, to map and sample the region of Chukchi Borderland and Alpha-Mendeleev Ridge complex. These data have led to the discovery of several new features, have radically changed our view of the bathymetry and geologic history of the area, and may have important ramifica-tions for the determination of the limits of a U.S. extended continental shelf under Article 76.