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Science, geopolitics and the governance of Antarctica

Nature Geoscience volume 1, pages 143–145 (2008)Cite this article

International Polar Year 2007–2009 had three predecessors 125, 75 and 50 years ago. These international research efforts were not free from geopolitical interests.

In November 2007 the media drew attention to various countries' attempts to extend sovereignty rights over ocean floors on adjacent continental shelves, in response to a UN commission on the delimitation of the continental shelf. Russia, for instance, claimed that the Lomonosov Ridge was part of its landmass, a claim that would extend Russia's seabed by 1.2 million square kilometres. In response, Canada vowed to increase its icebreaker fleet and to build new Arctic military bases, and Denmark sent its own scientists to the Arctic to seek alternative evidence that linked the Ridge to the Danish territory of Greenland. On the other side of the world, Britain was making similar claims to a large area of the seabed around the British Antarctic Territory as well as the Falkland Islands and South Georgia.

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Figure 1: Distribution of the seven territorial claims in Antarctica.
Figure 2: Photograph of the US Antarctic IGY seismic and glaciological traverse from Little America to Byrd Station in February 1957.

CHARLES BENTLEY

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Klaus Dodds and Charles Bentley for their comments on this paper, and the archivists at the National Archives and Records Administration, USA, for assistance during fieldwork. We gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Leverhulme Trust (grant number F00144AV).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Exeter, Cornwall Campus, Penryn, TR10 9EZ, Cornwall, UK

    Simon Naylor

  2. School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, EH9 3JW, UK

    Martin Siegert

  3. British Library, Euston Road, London, NW1 2DB

    Katrina Dean

  4. History and Philosophy of Science Division, University of Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK

    Simone Turchetti

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  1. Simon Naylor
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  2. Martin Siegert
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  4. Simone Turchetti
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Correspondence to Simon Naylor or Martin Siegert.

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Naylor, S., Siegert, M., Dean, K. et al. Science, geopolitics and the governance of Antarctica. Nature Geosci 1, 143–145 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo138

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