Warm Waters and Cold Shoulders: Jostling for Jurisdiction in Polar Oceans

2009 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 465-476 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosemary Rayfuse
Keyword(s):  
Arctic Ocean ◽  
International Community ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Legal Basis ◽  
Legal Regime ◽  
Central Arctic Ocean ◽  
The Arctic Ocean ◽  
Polar Oceans ◽  
Ocean Ecosystem ◽  
High Seas

Abstract In May 2008 the five Arctic coastal states adopted the Ilullisat Declaration in which they asserted their role as stewards, for the international community, of the Arctic Ocean ecosystem. This paper discusses the legal basis for their claim to stewardship with particular reference to the high seas portion of the central Arctic Ocean, and their assertion that no need exists for a new comprehensive legal regime in respect of those high seas waters. It is argued that while the high seas regime of the Arctic may be extensive, it is not comprehensive. Thus, the legitimacy of the claim to stewardship rests on the willingness and ability of the Arctic coastal states to work to fill the lacunae and address the shortcomings in the legal regime for the high seas of the central Arctic Ocean.

Positions of the non-Arctic States on the legal regime of the Arctic Ocean

2018 ◽  
pp. 124-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Vylegzhanin ◽  
◽  
V. Salygin ◽  
I. Dudykina ◽  
E. Kienko ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Arctic Ocean ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Legal Regime ◽  
The Arctic Ocean

Arctic Ocean State-Changes: Self Interests and Common Interests

2009 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 511-525
Author(s):  
Paul Arthur Berkman
Keyword(s):  
Arctic Ocean ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
International Governance ◽  
State Change ◽  
Central Arctic Ocean ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Free Region ◽  
The Arctic Ocean ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
State Changes

Abstract Environmental and geopolitical state-changes are the underlying first principles of the diverse stakeholder positioning in the Arctic Ocean. The Arctic Ocean is changing from an ice-covered region to an ice-free region during the summer, which is an environmental state-change. As provided under the framework of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the central Arctic Ocean currently involves “High-Seas” (beyond the “Exclusive Economic Zones”) and the underlying “Area” of the deep-sea floor (beyond the “Continental Shelves”). Governance applications of this ‘donut’ demography – with international space surrounded by sovereign sectors – would be a geopolitical state-change in the Arctic Ocean. International governance strategies and applications for the central Arctic Ocean have far-reaching implications for the stewardship of other international spaces, which between Antarctica and the ocean beyond national jurisdictions account for nearly 75 percent of the Earth’s surface. In view of planetary-scale strategies for humankind, with frameworks such as climate, the Arctic Ocean underscores the challenges and opportunities to balance the governance of nation states and international spaces centuries into the future.

Do We Need a New Legal Regime for the Arctic Ocean?

2009 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 443-456 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alf Håkon Hoel
Keyword(s):  
Arctic Ocean ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
International Treaties ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Legal Regime ◽  
Marine Environmental Protection ◽  
The Arctic Ocean ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Marine Environmental ◽  
Common Understanding

AbstractThis paper surveys matters related to the need for a new legal regime for the Arctic Ocean. It reviews the legal system based on the UN Convention for the Law of the Sea, and the regional and international treaties dealing with resource management, (marine) environmental protection and economic activities applicable to the Arctic. It suggests that implementation of existing legal instruments at the domestic level is a key factor needed to tackle the consequences of climate change and governance of fisheries and marine ecosystems in the Arctic. It is also considered to be the Arctic Council's responsibility to build a common understanding among the stakeholders, thereby enhancing the potential for further international cooperation.

scholarly journals Consultative meetings of non-Arctic states on the status of the Arctic

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 296-318
Author(s):  
Alexander N. Vylegzhanin ◽  
◽  
Elena V. Kienko ◽  
Keyword(s):  
South Korea ◽  
Arctic Ocean ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Legal Regime ◽  
Arctic Council ◽  
The Arctic Ocean ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Arctic Policy ◽  
New Instruments

The article, in the context of the contemporary status of the Arctic, examines the legal and political documents adopted by China, Japan and South Korea in regard to their arctic policy, including those agreed upon by these three States. The alarming reaction to such documents in the Arctic coastal states, firstly, in the USA and Canada, is also considered in the article. Relevant western scholars’ arguments are scrutinized, such as the increase of “China’s military power”; China’s “insatiable appetite” for access to natural resources in the Arctic; the argument that “China seeks to dominate” the Arctic and the situation when “the Arctic Council is split”; the notion that China makes other non-Arctic States create separate legal documents concerning the regime of the Arctic Ocean. The article concludes that the western interpretation of such documents is alarming only in relation to China. The research shows that up till now there are no grounds for such estimations of China’s negative role. However, statements by Chinese officials as cited in the article and some provisions stipulated in “China’s Arctic policy” contradict the common will of the Arctic coastal states in regard to the legal regime of the Arctic Ocean as reflected in the Ilulissat Declaration of 2008. In such a dynamic legal environment, new instruments of collaboration are in demand, which might involve China and other non-Arctic states in maintaining the established legal regime of the Arctic. Thus, the new instruments would deter the creation (with unpredictable consequences) by China, Japan and South Korea of new trilateral acts relating to the status of the Arctic.

Some Icelandic Perspectives on the Agreement to Prevent Unregulated High Seas Fisheries in the Central Arctic Ocean

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 268-284
Author(s):  
Jóhann Sigurjónsson
Keyword(s):  
Arctic Ocean ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Scientific Cooperation ◽  
Central Arctic Ocean ◽  
Fish Stocks ◽  
Management Measures ◽  
Interim Management ◽  
Ice Retreat ◽  
Sea Ice Retreat ◽  
High Seas

This paper reflects on several aspects of the Agreement to Prevent Unregulated High Seas Fisheries in the Central Arctic Ocean from the standpoint of Iceland, prior to, during and at the conclusion of the negotiations of the Agreement in late 2017. Particular reference is made to UNCLOS and coastal State interests, status of knowledge on the fish stocks and the importance of scientific cooperation which the Agreement facilitates. During the years 2008–2015, the so-called Arctic Five consulted on cooperation in Arctic matters including future management of fisheries in the central Arctic Ocean. These rather exclusive cooperative efforts were criticised by Iceland and other States that felt these matters were to be dealt with in a broader international context. It seems evident that Iceland’s desire to become a full participant in the process during the subsequent years was both based on legal arguments as well as fair and natural geopolitical reasons. Iceland became a participant in the negotiations in December 2015. The final version of the Agreement is a fully fledged platform for coordinating scientific research and it even allows for interim management measures until future regional management framework is in place. In essence, the Agreement can be taken as a regional fisheries management arrangement (RFMA), since most elements of relevance are incorporated in accordance with the 1995 UN Fish Stocks Agreement. The opening of the central Arctic Ocean for fishing is not likely to take place in the nearest future, although the development of sea ice retreat is currently faster than earlier anticipated. While the Agreement is today regarded as being historic due to its precautionary approach, future may prove that it was a timely arrangement in a fast-moving world with dramatic changes taking place in the Arctic Ocean.

Sediment archives from the Arctic Ocean provide evidence for massive remobilization of permafrost carbon in Siberia during the last glacial termination

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jannik Martens ◽  
Birgit Wild ◽  
Tommaso Tesi ◽  
Francesco Muschitiello ◽  
Matt O’Regan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Arctic Ocean ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Sediment Cores ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Last Deglaciation ◽  
Central Arctic Ocean ◽  
Last Glacial ◽  
The Arctic Ocean ◽  
Siberian Shelf ◽  
The Last Glacial

<p>Environmental archives and carbon cycle models suggest that climate warming during the last deglaciation (the transition from the last glacial to the Holocene) caused large-scale thaw of Arctic permafrost, followed by the release of previously freeze-locked carbon. In addition to changing oceanic circulation and outgassing of CO<sub>2 </sub>trapped in the deep glacial ocean, organic carbon (OC) release from thawing permafrost might have contributed to the rise in atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub> by 80 ppmv or ~200 Pg C between 17.5 and 11.7 kyr before present (BP). The few Arctic sediment cores to date, however, lack either temporal resolution or reflect only regional catchments, leaving most of the permafrost OC remobilization of the deglaciation unconstrained.</p><p>Our study explores the flux and fate of OC released from permafrost to the Siberian Arctic Seas during the last deglaciation. The Arctic Ocean is the main recipient of permafrost material delivered by river transport or collapse of coastal permafrost, providing an archive for current and past release of OC from thawing permafrost. We studied isotopes (Δ<sup>14</sup>C-OC, δ<sup>13</sup>C-OC) and terrestrial biomarkers (CuO-derived lignin phenols, <em>n</em>-alkanes, <em>n</em>-alkanoic acids) in a number of sediment cores from the Siberian Shelf and Central Arctic Ocean to reconstruct source and fate of OC previously locked in permafrost.</p><p>The composite record of three cores from the Laptev, East Siberian and Chukchi Seas suggest a combination of OC released by deepening of permafrost active layer in inland Siberia and by thermal collapse of coastal permafrost during the deglaciation. Coastal erosion of permafrost during the deglaciation suggests that sea-level rise and flooding of the Siberian shelf remobilized OC from permafrost deposits that covered the dry shelf areas during the last glacial. A sediment core from the Central Arctic Ocean demonstrates that this occurred in two major pulses; i) during the Bølling-Allerød (14.7-12.9 kyr BP), but most strongly ii) during the early Holocene (11-7.6 kyr BP). In the early Holocene, flooding of 80% of the Siberian shelf amplified permafrost OC release to the Arctic Ocean, with peak fluxes 10-9 kyr BP one order of magnitude higher than at other times in the Holocene.</p><p>It is likely that the remobilization of permafrost OC by flooding of the Siberian shelf released climate-significant amounts of dormant OC into active biogeochemical cycling and the atmosphere. Previous studies estimated that a pool of 300-600 Pg OC was held in permafrost covering Arctic Ocean shelves during the last glacial maximum; one can only speculate about its whereabouts after the deglaciation. Present und future reconstructions of historical remobilization of permafrost OC will help to understand how important permafrost thawing is to large-scale carbon cycling.</p>

scholarly journals Does the Summer Arctic Frontal Zone Influence Arctic Ocean Cyclone Activity?

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (13) ◽  
pp. 4977-4993 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex D. Crawford ◽  
Mark C. Serreze
Keyword(s):  
Arctic Ocean ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Frontal Zone ◽  
External Source ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Cyclone Activity ◽  
Central Arctic Ocean ◽  
The Arctic Ocean ◽  
Summer Maximum ◽  
Horizontal Temperature Gradients

Abstract Extratropical cyclone activity over the central Arctic Ocean reaches its peak in summer. Previous research has argued for the existence of two external source regions for cyclones contributing to this summer maximum: the Eurasian continent interior and a narrow band of strong horizontal temperature gradients along the Arctic coastline known as the Arctic frontal zone (AFZ). This study incorporates data from an atmospheric reanalysis and an advanced cyclone detection and tracking algorithm to critically evaluate the relationship between the summer AFZ and cyclone activity in the central Arctic Ocean. Analysis of both individual cyclone tracks and seasonal fields of cyclone characteristics shows that the Arctic coast (and therefore the AFZ) is not a region of cyclogenesis. Rather, the AFZ acts as an intensification area for systems forming over Eurasia. As these systems migrate toward the Arctic Ocean, they experience greater deepening in situations when the AFZ is strong at midtropospheric levels. On a broader scale, intensity of the summer AFZ at midtropospheric levels has a positive correlation with cyclone intensity in the Arctic Ocean during summer, even when controlling for variability in the northern annular mode. Taken as a whole, these findings suggest that the summer AFZ can intensify cyclones that cross the coast into the Arctic Ocean, but focused modeling studies are needed to disentangle the relative importance of the AFZ, large-scale circulation patterns, and topographic controls.

scholarly journals The Summer Cyclone Maximum over the Central Arctic Ocean

2008 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 1048-1065 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark C. Serreze ◽  
Andrew P. Barrett
Keyword(s):  
Arctic Ocean ◽  
High Latitude ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Central Arctic Ocean ◽  
Middle Latitudes ◽  
The North ◽  
The Arctic Ocean ◽  
Northern High Latitude ◽  
Separate Region ◽  
Summer Maximum

Abstract A fascinating feature of the northern high-latitude circulation is a prominent summer maximum in cyclone activity over the Arctic Ocean, centered near the North Pole in the long-term mean. This pattern is associated with the influx of lows generated over the Eurasian continent and cyclogenesis over the Arctic Ocean itself. Its seasonal onset is linked to the following: an eastward shift in the Urals trough, migration of the 500-hPa vortex core to near the pole, and development of a separate region of high-latitude baroclinicity. The latter two features are consistent with differential atmospheric heating between the Arctic Ocean and snow-free land. Variability in the strength of the cyclone pattern can be broadly linked to the phase of the summer northern annular mode. When the cyclone pattern is well developed, the 500-hPa vortex is especially strong and symmetric about the pole, with negative sea level pressure (SLP) anomalies over the pole and positive anomalies over middle latitudes. Net precipitation tends to be anomalously positive over the Arctic Ocean. When poorly developed, the opposite holds.

scholarly journals Separating individual contributions of major Siberian rivers in the Transpolar Drift of the Arctic Ocean

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronja Paffrath ◽  
Georgi Laukert ◽  
Dorothea Bauch ◽  
Michiel Rutgers van der Loeff ◽  
Katharina Pahnke
Keyword(s):  
Arctic Ocean ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Lateral Separation ◽  
Central Arctic Ocean ◽  
Siberian River ◽  
Neodymium Isotopes ◽  
The Arctic Ocean ◽  
Individual Contributions ◽  
Transpolar Drift ◽  
The Individual

AbstractThe Siberian rivers supply large amounts of freshwater and terrestrial derived material to the Arctic Ocean. Although riverine freshwater and constituents have been identified in the central Arctic Ocean, the individual contributions of the Siberian rivers to and their spatiotemporal distributions in the Transpolar Drift (TPD), the major wind-driven current in the Eurasian sector of the Arctic Ocean, are unknown. Determining the influence of individual Siberian rivers downstream the TPD, however, is critical to forecast responses in polar and sub-polar hydrography and biogeochemistry to the anticipated individual changes in river discharge and freshwater composition. Here, we identify the contributions from the largest Siberian river systems, the Lena and Yenisei/Ob, in the TPD using dissolved neodymium isotopes and rare earth element concentrations. We further demonstrate their vertical and lateral separation that is likely due to distinct temporal emplacements of Lena and Yenisei/Ob waters in the TPD as well as prior mixing of Yenisei/Ob water with ambient waters.

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