Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf

(Newser) - Russia, the US, Canada, Denmark, and Norway all want to grab a part of the Arctic, and Russia in 2001 became the first to submit its claim to the UN—a claim that was sent back due to lack of evidence. The country now says it has that evidence, reports...

(Newser) - A Coast Guard cutter will this week begin mapping Alaska’s continental shelf, Reuters reports, in a first step toward mining data that could be used to establish rights to oil exploration in the Arctic. Melting ice caps, which one scientist calls "bad for the Arctic, but very very...

(Newser) - The UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf has a big job. As some 60 countries rush to claim the ocean seabed—and the oil reserves beneath—the 21-person team of part-time scientists must settle disputes, relying on geology and the sometimes arcane Law of the Sea. “...