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US Coast Guard to survey the Arctic

They will create a 3D map of the Arctic Ocean floor.

Published Aug 12, 2008
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A US Coast Guard vessel will travel to the Arctic this week to determine the extent of the continental shelf north of Alaska and map the ocean floor providing data that could be used for exploration planning.

US scientists on the cutter Healy will leave Barrow, Alaska, on Thursday on a three-week journey. They will create a 3D map of the Arctic Ocean floor in a relatively unexplored area known as the Chukchi borderland.

The Healy will launch again on 6 September, when it will be joined by Canadian scientists aboard an icebreaker, who will help collect data to determine the thickness of sediment in the region that is one factor a country can use to define its extended continental shelf.