Climate of Our Future

Climate Crisis Coalition

U.S. Draws Map of Rich Arctic Floor Ahead of Big Melt
By Robert Lee Hotz, The Wall Street Journal, August 31, 2007, subscription
“In the Arctic this week, researchers aboard the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Healy are mapping claims to the spoils of global warming. North of Alaska, the 23 scientists of the Healy are gathering the data legally required to extend national territories across vast reaches of the mineral-rich seafloor usually blocked by Arctic ice. Fathom by fathom, multibeam sonar sensors mounted on the Healy’s hull chart a submerged plateau called the Chukchi Cap, in a region that may contain 25% of the world’s reserves of oil and natural gas. In an era of climate change, these frozen assets are up for grabs, as melting ice allows detailed mapping and, one day perhaps, drilling… Indeed, the Healy is finding easy passage this week through the Arctic Ocean’s archipelagos of ice. ‘We have had a remarkable amount of open water — good for mapping, sad for the Arctic,’ said expedition chief scientist Larry Mayer.”