All five countries with Arctic Ocean coastlines - Canada, Denmark, the U.S., Russia and Norway - have been accelerating their UNCLOS evidence-gathering efforts as the ongoing Arctic sea-ice retreat unlocks the polar frontier for shipping and resource exploration.

Last summer, Canadian and Danish scientists jointly presented preliminary geological research at a conference in Norway, indicating that the Lomonosov Ridge appears to be an extension of the North American land mass.

Canadian scientists also began a major sea-floor survey of the Alpha Ridge last year, and collaborated with the U.S. on an ocean-bottom survey of the Beaufort Sea along the offshore boundary between Alaska and the Yukon.