Coming To A Summer Near You
We have it on authority. It is inevitable, and it has become a creeping reality. The Arctic Ocean will no longer express its icy disdain for mankind's puny attempts to circumnavigate its vast frozen presence. Navigable vessels sans steel hulls representing the cargo-shipping ambitions registered in diverse ports of the world may now begin to traverse the Northwest Passage some summer on the near horizon.A relatively easy passage between Europe and Asia. Trouble brewing for a country that has long held to the proud tradition of ownership of the Northwest Passage and which has celebrated that historical legend through tall tales of exploration and feisty songs of celebration. Finally, the government of Canada has seen fit to set aside funding for patrol vessels and military bases in support of its challenged claims.
But counter claims lurk on the horizon of that coming summer. Russia, Denmark, Norway and the United States all claim credible vested interests in sharing dominion over those icy waters which are slowly relenting under the crushing inevitability of global warming. Freer passage is in the near future and it will reward many countries in shorter transport time, bringing goods to market more handily than formerly.
Nice, yes, but there's so much more to the opening up of the Arctic than that. For the world's scientific community has come to the conclusion from studied geologic research that fully one-quarter of all the world's as-yet-undiscovered hydrocarbons sit waiting beneath the Arctic Ocean. Not to mention the blistering allure of metals and minerals just aching to be mined and extracted to enrich the coffers of enterprising countries.
So, they shout in oppositional unison: "It's ours!" Going well beyond the internationally recognized 200 nautical miles limit of shoreline that all maritime nations have accepted up until now. But look here, there's the newly-identified matter of extended ridges and continental shelves reaching far out undersea from the land-visible borders of countries. Such as, for example, Russia whose exploring spirit has been renewed by the planting of its flag on the ocean floor.
And there's plenty of opposition with Danish science contending an unbroken link to the North American undersea plate at Greenland, Denmark and, happily extending to Canada. Yet what about those continental shelves extending for miles under the world's oceans? What about those tectonic plates, shifting about, subtly altering and disturbing, dislodging and re-connecting as they will?
That's a tight little part of the world, up there at the Arctic Circle. Can't we just be friends, and nicely share?
Here's a clue: On September 6 two Tupolev Tu-95 long-range bombers rumbled over the Beaufort Sea toward Canada's air defence identity zone close to Inuvik, North West Territories. A pair of CF-18 Hornets were hurriedly sent up to intercept the Russian planes. Nicely, the Russian bombers did a turn-about before intruding on Canadian airspace.
Just practising neighbourly relations.
Labels: Environment, Political Realities, Technology
posted by Pieface @ Monday, October 01, 2007
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