Attempt To Prove North Pole Is Danish

October 2, 2004

Attempt To Prove

North Pole Is Danish

By Jan Olsen, Associated Press, in Copenhagen

The Guardian - UK

10-2-4

Denmark hopes to find evidence that the Danish territory of

Greenland is connected to a ridge beneath the floating ice of the

Arctic Ocean, thus giving Denmark claim to the north pole - and

whatever riches in oil and gas may lie beneath it.

"Maybe there is a chance that the north pole could become Danish,"

Helge Sander, the science and technology minister, said

yesterday. "We must be able to argue that it is a natural extension

[of Greenland]", added Trine Dahl-Jensen of the Geological Survey of

Denmark and Greenland.

Greenland, the world's biggest island, is a semi-independent Danish

territory whose northern tip is 500 miles south of the pole.

Denmark has joined Canada and Russia in charting the Arctic sea bed

in an effort to claim ownership of the expanse.

The question Danish scientists must resolve is where Greenland's

continental shelf ends and the ocean bed begins. Beneath the pole, a

1,250-mile underwater ridge runs between Greenland and Siberia;

measurements would have to prove that the Greenland shelf is

attached to the Lomonosov ridge.

Another factor is a 1986 UN convention that allows countries an

economic zone extending 230 miles from their shores. Only countries

that have ratified the convention can claim zones; Norway, Russia

and Canada have signed, the United States has not.

Denmark's parliament is due to ratify it before the end of the year,

though an exact date had not been set, Mr Sander said.

Since spring, Danish scientists have used sonar, seismographs and

GPS data to survey the ridge and have drilled in search of

resources.

Canada and Russia, which are also likely to claim ownership of the

ridge, are making similar investigations.

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