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August 1, 2019

1 min read

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The Great Ocean Divide

More than two million square kilometers are being carved up, leaving little for the rest of the world

By Katie Peek & Mark Fischetti

Katie Peek

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The five countries with coastlines along the Arctic Ocean are making a case to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf for “extended continental shelf”—seafloor beyond their exclusive economic zones—to gain rights to resources on and under the seabed. (The water stays open to all people, according to international law.) The countries will have to settle large overlaps, notably around the North Pole and the Lomonosov Ridge. Only a small parcel or two of seafloor might remain open for the rest of the world.

Credit: Katie Peek (graphics); Mark Fischetti (text); Sources: IBRU, Durham University (claim areas); United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (claim areas); MarineRegions.org (EEZs); Global Self-Consistent, Hierarchical, High-Resolution Geography Database (coastlines); International Bathymetric Chart of the Arctic Ocean, version 3.0 (seafloor depths)

Katie Peek is a science journalist and data-visualization designer with degrees in astrophysics and journalism. She is a contributing artist for Scientific American.

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Mark Fischetti was a senior editor at Scientific American for nearly 20 years and covered sustainability issues, including climate, environment, energy, and more. He assigned and edited feature articles and news by journalists and scientists and also wrote in those formats. He was founding managing editor of two spin-off magazines: Scientific American Mind and Scientific American Earth 3.0. His 2001 article “Drowning New Orleans” predicted the widespread disaster that a storm like Hurricane Katrina would impose on the city. Fischetti has written as a freelancer for the New York Times, Sports Illustrated, Smithsonian and many other outlets. He co-authored the book Weaving the Web with Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, which tells the real story of how the Web was created. He also co-authored The New Killer Diseases with microbiologist Elinor Levy. Fischetti has a physics degree and has twice served as Attaway Fellow in Civic Culture at Centenary College of Louisiana, which awarded him an honorary doctorate. In 2021 he received the American Geophysical Union’s Robert C. Cowen Award for Sustained Achievement in Science Journalism. He has appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press, CNN, the History Channel, NPR News and many radio stations.

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Scientific American Magazine Vol 321 Issue 2This article was published with the title “Setting Boundaries” in Scientific American Magazine Vol. 321 No. 2 (), p. 34
doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0819-34
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