Thread: Russia plants flag on sea floor at North Pole

Well they finally beat us to something - which may turn out to be a big squabble over oil rights.

MOSCOW: A Russian expedition traveled Thursday in a pair of submersibles more than four kilometers under the ice cap and deposited a Russian flag on the seabed at the North Pole, making a symbolic claim to vast fields of oil and natural gas believed to be beneath the sea north of the Arctic Circle.

"We must determine the border, the most northerly of the Russian shelf," Chilingarov said on national television before the dive, which was billed as the first of its sort - a descent into darkness far beneath a large window cut in the ice sheet by a nuclear-powered ice breaker.

Several other countries seek to extend their influence there, seeing the mostly unpopulated region's potential for providing a hydrocarbon and mineral rush. The ultimate demarcation of the area, if geologists' estimates of its deposits prove true, could be a key to future national wealth and power.
At least one country with a stake in the outcome registered its immediate disapproval of the expedition. "This isn't the 15th century," Peter MacKay, Canada's foreign minister, said on CTV television. "You can't go around the world and just plant flags and say 'We're claiming this territory.' "

They just did.

Russia plants flag on sea floor at North Pole - International Herald Tribune

This story is actually about global warming:

As milder temperatures make exploration of the Arctic seafloor possible for the first time, Russia's biggest-ever polar mission appears to have beaten all potential rivals in the race to stake out a claim at the Earth's cap. The rock samples and other data gathered by the subs will be used to support Russia's claim to own 460,000 square miles of hitherto international territory – an area larger than France and Germany combined in a region estimated to contain 25 percent of the world's undiscovered oil and gas reserves.

The issue of who owns the North Pole, now administered by the International Seabed Authority, has long been regarded as academic since the entire region is locked in year-round impenetrable ice. But with global warming thinning the icecaps, the question has vaulted to the front burner.

As ice caps melt, Russia stakes its claim to oil-rich Arctic | csmonitor.com

That's the Christian Science Monitor. Apparently "Christians" and "Scientists" are in agreement about global warming.

Originally Posted by Blueneck

This story is actually about global warming:





As ice caps melt, Russia stakes its claim to oil-rich Arctic | csmonitor.com

That's the Christian Science Monitor. Apparently "Christians" and "Scientists" are in agreement about global warming.

What point are you trying to prove?

Originally Posted by PLaid_Dragon1873

What point are you trying to prove?

That global warming has presented us with the opportunity to have access to more fossil fuels to....create more global warming - ironic, don't you think?

Originally Posted by Blueneck

That global warming has presented us with the opportunity to have access to more fossil fuels to....create more global warming - ironic, don't you think?

I was talking about the 'Russia plants flag on sea floor bit' sorry

If there is no oil there, they'd become the laughing stock of the world.

Originally Posted by Blueneck

That global warming has presented us with the opportunity to have access to more fossil fuels to....create more global warming - ironic, don't you think?

How does 289,366 cubic miles of ice melt at below 32ºF?

Arctic theme page - North Pole Weather Data from Deployment

Originally Posted by dzustaparadox

How does 289,366 cubic miles of ice melt at below 32ºF?

Arctic theme page - North Pole Weather Data from Deployment

I found your link to be a little confusing, but, if there area isn't going to be accessible, why fight over it? Look at it this way, part of the Earth that's never been explored before has now been claimed by at least 5 countries. Up until recently no one cared.

This is dated Aug. 11:

Russian media assert that the Healy's mission signals that the United States, along with Canada, is actively joining the competition for resources in the Arctic. Melting ice could open water for drilling or create the long-sought Northwest Passage for shipping. A Russian submarine dropped that nation's flag Aug. 2 on the floor of the Arctic Ocean under the North Pole.

The NAU "conspiracy theorists" might agree with that. And think of the implications for a "Northwest shipping channel".

The purpose of the mapping work aboard the Healy is to determine the extent of the continental shelf north of Alaska, Mayer said. It's not a claim, he said, but a process of registering boundary information with the U.N. Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. ``In that area, the country would have rights over the resources of the sea floor and subsurface that would include drilling for oil and gas,'' he said.

U.S. boundaries could well be redefined because of this.

I thought it sounded important. But if I'm wrong, it wouldn't be the first time.

U.S. Icebreaker to Map Arctic Sea Floor | World Latest | Guardian Unlimited

The only reason any attention is being given to this is because of global warming hysteria. The Arctic Sea is 13,000 ft deep at the North Pole. An icebreaker had to launch the submersibles 20 miles from the location because of ice at the North Pole where a little over a month ago some Brit swam there.

Now....just think. How does ice melt at below 32ºF?

Originally Posted by dzustaparadox

The only reason any attention is being given to this is because of global warming hysteria. The Arctic Sea is 13,000 ft deep at the North Pole. An icebreaker had to launch the submersibles 20 miles from the location because of ice at the North Pole where a little over a month ago some Brit swam there.

Now....just think. How does ice melt at below 32ºF?

I don't know. Maybe some Brit pees on it.