Oil in the Arctic 2. The Outer Continental Shelf Environmental Assessment Program

1977 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 215-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gunter Weller ◽  
David W. Norton
Keyword(s):  
Continental Shelf ◽  
Environmental Assessment ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Outer Continental Shelf ◽  
Assessment Program

The Alaskan Outer Continental Shelf Environmental Assessment Program

1979 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 171-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rudolf J. Engelmann
Keyword(s):  
Continental Shelf ◽  
Environmental Assessment ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Environmental Study ◽  
Outer Continental Shelf ◽  
Oil And Gas Development ◽  
Assessment Program ◽  
Oil And Gas Operations ◽  
Contaminants Transport ◽  
Environmental Prediction

The Outer Continental Shelf Environmental Assessment Program (OCSEAP) is a multidisciplinary environmental study that is designed to provide timely inputs which are needed for decisions on off-shore oil and gas development. Approximately 100 projects in the Program address six tasks that are universal to environmental prediction and assessment. These include determination of predevelopment contamination, anticipation of future contaminants, transport of contaminants through the environment to receptors, location and character of biological populations, and the effects on organisms of exposure to a contaminant. The sixth task identifies and characterizes the various physical hazards which the environment poses to human safety, installations, and oil and gas operations.

The North Pole Seabed Nature Reserve as a Provisional Arrangement

2012 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-133
Author(s):  
Olya Gayazova
Keyword(s):  
Continental Shelf ◽  
Arctic Ocean ◽  
Nature Reserve ◽  
North Pole ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Median Line ◽  
Outer Continental Shelf ◽  
The North ◽  
The Arctic Ocean ◽  
Positive Direct

Abstract That the geographic North Pole is the Arctic Schelling point, is implicit in the Russian submission to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. I assess this premise vis-à-vis three other approaches to the outer continental shelf delimitation in the Arctic Ocean—the median-line method; a joint submission; and an international zone around the North Pole—and show that both the premise and the alternatives have limitations. Then I explain how an agreement between the Arctic Ocean states (the A5) to establish a seabed nature reserve north of 88°20´N and within 100 nm from the 2,500-meter isobath overcomes those limitations and what positive direct and indirect effects may come from it.

scholarly journals The De Long Trough: a newly discovered glacial trough on the East Siberian continental margin

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 1269-1284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matt O'Regan ◽  
Jan Backman ◽  
Natalia Barrientos ◽  
Thomas M. Cronin ◽  
Laura Gemery ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Continental Shelf ◽  
Arctic Ocean ◽  
Ice Sheets ◽  
Laminated Sediments ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Outer Continental Shelf ◽  
Last Glacial ◽  
Glacial Landforms ◽  
Siberian Shelf ◽  
The Last Glacial

Abstract. Ice sheets extending over parts of the East Siberian continental shelf have been proposed for the last glacial period and during the larger Pleistocene glaciations. The sparse data available over this sector of the Arctic Ocean have left the timing, extent and even existence of these ice sheets largely unresolved. Here we present new geophysical mapping and sediment coring data from the East Siberian shelf and slope collected during the 2014 SWERUS-C3 expedition (SWERUS-C3: Swedish – Russian – US Arctic Ocean Investigation of Climate-Cryosphere-Carbon Interactions). The multibeam bathymetry and chirp sub-bottom profiles reveal a set of glacial landforms that include grounding zone formations along the outer continental shelf, seaward of which lies a  >  65 m thick sequence of glacio-genic debris flows. The glacial landforms are interpreted to lie at the seaward end of a glacial trough – the first to be reported on the East Siberian margin, here referred to as the De Long Trough because of its location due north of the De Long Islands. Stratigraphy and dating of sediment cores show that a drape of acoustically laminated sediments covering the glacial deposits is older than ∼ 50 cal kyr BP. This provides direct evidence for extensive glacial activity on the Siberian shelf that predates the Last Glacial Maximum and most likely occurred during the Saalian (Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 6).

Russian Flag at the North Pole

2018 ◽  
pp. 410-418
Author(s):  
Rosemary Rayfuse
Keyword(s):  
Continental Shelf ◽  
International Conflict ◽  
North Pole ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Outer Continental Shelf ◽  
The North ◽  
The One ◽  
Legal Sense ◽  
Physical Manifestation

Russia’s planting of a flag on the seabed at the North Pole in 2007 set off a flurry of concern about its maritime and territorial ambitions and the potential for international conflict in the Arctic. However, the law of the sea now renders moot traditional rules of the doctrine of discovery and occupation as manifestations of sovereignty. Thus, the Russian flag at the North Pole is meaningless in the legal sense. Nevertheless, it is not irrelevant. On the one hand, it has catalyzed the development of a ‘law habit’ among the Arctic states now reflected in cooperation on scientific and technical work to support their overlapping outer continental-shelf claims to the Arctic seabed and on other Arctic Ocean matters. On the other hand, it has clearly signalled a claim to an advantageous negotiating position. The flag is thus a physical manifestation of both the power and pretence of international law.

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