Canada has tied itself to Arctic territorial claims, according to Agence France-Press (AFP). Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn was quoted as saying, “The need to demonstrate our sovereignty in the Arctic has never been more important, which is why our government has made this research a top priority.”

Canada’s joint research with Denmark studied the undersea Lomonosov Ridge, a mountain chain running underneath the Arctic Sea, which Canada believes connects the North American and Greenland plates to a vast portion of the Arctic. This challenges an earlier, similar claim by Russia.

Lunn has expressed Canada’s commitment to this initiative as a means of transforming Arctic potential into prosperity. The findings were presented at the 2008 International Geological Congress in Oslo, Norway, earlier this month. Lunn added that Ottawa plans to file Canada’s formal claim to the United Nations (UN) by 2013.

The United States Geological Service (USGS) claims that the Arctic contains 90 billion bbl of technically recoverable oil. In recent years the countries bordering the Arctic Ocean have disputed sovereignty of the region’s waters – namely Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia, and the United States.

In addition to Canada’s latest study, Russia also claims its continental shelf extends along the Lomonosov Ridge.

According to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, coastal states can claim territory within 200 nautical miles from their shoreline. However, nations must provide scientific proof of the natural extension of the continental plate before expanding this zone to exploit natural resources.

Canada has five years to submit its recent findings and if successful could add up to 675,675 sq miles (1.75 million sq km) to its offshore region. It is believed that this will not develop without heated international debate. With the amount of reserves at stake, most of the countries with territorial claims are not likely to step aside.

Last year, Russia raised controversy when it performed its own flag-planting ceremony on the seabed beneath the North Pole. Canada responded days later by deploying its own military mission to the Arctic.

The AFP reported that Russia has planned to boost its naval presence in the Arctic. In early August the UK’s Times Online claimed that Russia had sent its Northern Fleet – based at Severomorsk – into the Arctic, which was its first deployment since 1991. Russia has claimed that the anti-submarine destroyer and the missile cruiser – Marshal Ustinov – is patrolling the area to protect the nation’s fisherman, however, analysts believe Russia is putting its “foot in the door,” the Times Online said.

More recently, Times Online reported that Russia is currently conducting deploying a submersible research vessel to dive beneath the Arctic for oil and gas exploration purposes. The sate-sponsored expedition is led by a Moscow-based geographical institute. It is gathering data in an effort to prove Russia’s claims on a significant mass of Arctic seabed. The environmental scientists are set to study global warming, but have also been given the mission to determine the feasibility of drilling projects.

Dmitri Medvedev, Russia’s new president, recently signed the country’s Arctic resource extraction into law, which allows the government to hand pick companies for specific projects on the continental shelf.

Mark Franchetti writing for the Times Online said Russia controls the world’s largest reserves of natural gas. If Moscow’s claims in the Arctic go unchallenged, many analysts fear that the West could become dangerously dependant on Russian energy.