Cooperative Neighbors on Arctic Diplomacy

This photograph is of Canadian Coast Guard ship Louis S. St. Laurent alongside U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy in the Arctic Ocean. The U.S. and Canada are mapping the Arctic seafloor and gathering data to help define the outer limits of the continental shelf. Each country may exercise sovereign rights over their extended continental shelf's natural resources of the seabed and subsoil. The outer limits can be defined according to criteria set forth in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and this mission will help determine where these criteria are met for the United States and Canada in the Arctic Ocean. The U.S. effort in this expedition is through the U.S. Extended Continental Shelf Task Force, of which the USGS is a participant. USGS scientists were on board both Healy and Louis during this expedition.