A new era in Danish-Canadian scientific cooperation starts in the beginning of April 2006 with activities centred north of Greenland and Canada on the ice of the Arctic Ocean. Both countries have ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Article 76 of UNCLOS specifies a mechanism for extending the limits of the continental shelf beyond the 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
In the course of 6 weeks, seismic refraction, gravity and bathymetric data will be collected over the submarine Lomonosov Ridge that stretches from Ellesmere Island and Greenland out into the Arctic Ocean.
The work forms part of the LORITA-1 project (Lomonosov Ridge Test of Appurtenance Expedition - Phase 1) that will investigate whether the submarine ridge is a natural prolongation of the Canada/Greenland land territory. The participants will be working under difficult physical conditions with temperatures down to minus 40 and on a sea ice that is continually in motion.
Read more on LORITA-1 on the homepage of the Continental Shelf Project:
http://a76.dk/expeditions_uk/lorita-1_uk/index.html