Canada to start 'non-stop' year of mapping Arctic seabed

Federal scientists will soon take ontheir most ambitious effort yet to map the Arctic Ocean seabed, four years beforeCanada's deadline to try to extend its Arctic sovereignty as part ofan international treaty.

Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, Canada has until 2013 to submit its claim over a vast area of the Arctic Ocean and any potential mineral and gas resources past its existing boundaries. The federal government has slated $109 million for the mapping work.

"This is going to be one of the bigger years in the sense of activities, so we have activities starting around the middle of March and going on until the middle of September, and it's almost non-stop," Jacob Verhoef, who is leading Canada's mapping effort for Natural Resources Canada, told CBC News.

Verhoef said scientists will team up with Denmark on three projects: One to map the shape of the seabed north of Ward Hunt Island; another to map an area in the Labrador Sea; a third project will conduct a special aerial survey near Alert, Nunavut.

Researchers also plan to test an autonomous underwater vehicle off Alert in April, he added. Scientists hope to use two underwater vehicles next year to map remote parts of the Arctic seabed.

Mapping seabed

Later this year, the Canadian scientists will work with the United States aboard icebreakers for 42 days to map the seabed in the Beaufort Sea.

"Over the last two or three years we started very slow and we build it up," Verhoef said. "I think this year is probably the year of maximum activities."

Much of what researchers can do this year will depend on ice conditions, so they are relying on the Canadian Ice Service's expertise and satellite imagery.

Service director Doug Bancroft said the research will allow it to have its RadarSat 2 images verified by people on the ground.

"This is an exciting opportunity because you have personnel on the ground and other equipment that's operating at the same time as the satellites," he said.

"It's an opportunity to get a validation of some the new techniques that are evolving with these new tools."