canada or denmark, who owns the land?

Sovereignty debate at heart of mapping project
Last updated Mar 23 2006, CBC News

A major mapping project to decide whether an area off Ellesmere Island in the Arctic Ocean belongs to Canada or Denmark is getting underway this week.

More than 30 scientists and support staff from the two countries are on their way to the Canadian Forces Station at Alert that they're using as a staging base for the $3-million project.

Both nations hope to claim sovereignty over the area. At stake are the rights to riches such as oil, gas and methane that may lay beneath the sea.

The researchers will do seismic and sonar testing to map the Lomonosov ridge on the seabed between Ellesmere and Greenland.

Dave Maloley, of Canadian Arctic Logistics Corporation, says their camp will be several hundred kilometres offshore.

"We'll have people stationed there providing weather and also as an emergency stop for the helicopters," says Maloley.

"So that part gets complicated and, of course, trying to get done what we're doing, it's a very time consuming thing."

It's a one-time opportunity, says Ruth Jackson, of the Geological Survey of Canada.

"We have 150 instruments we're going to lay on the ice that record the sounds that we make," says Jackson.

"We'd like to run the line roughly up the boundary between Canada and Denmark so the data is useful to both of us."

The researchers hope to complete the fieldwork by the beginning of May.

Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, Canada has until 2013 to claim sovereignty beyond the 200-nautical mile limit.