The Polar Regions are among the major terrestrial deserts. These areas are virtually uninhabited and the climate is very harsh. It is very cold and precipitation is also low. These regions receive only 41% of heat from the Equator, the photoperiod is original: a month of dawn, day time for five months, and one month and five months of twilight and night. We can usually find temperatures of -40 ° C, except during the summer when they reach 10 ° C. Antarctica in the South Pole region is a frozen continent and extends from 13 to 15 million square kilometers (thirty times the size of France). It is covered with a cap of ice called ice sheets with a thickness of 2 to 4 100m. This layer of ice is a mass of 27 000 billion tones is a recess of the rock of 2, 500m. Antarctica contains 90% of ice and 70% of freshwater reserves. The relief of this plateau is monotonous, and interrupted only by large peaks. Earthly life is weak and we can find no herbivores but some patches of trees, mosses and lichens. Marine life exists because of the presence of zooplankton. It consists of fish, seals, whales, penguins, seabirds, orcas, leopard seals and so on. The Arctic (North Pole region) is a frozen ocean of the same size as the Antarctic. The sea ice is permanent; its depth varies between 50 and 60m. It is composed of different types of ice. We find the pack and icebergs. The pack is a seasonal ice that forms in winter and narrows in summer and creates seascapes. Meanwhile, the icebergs are drifting ice, which causes a hazard to navigation (similar to the sinking of the Titanic in 1912). In contrast to the Antarctic, terrestrial life is more developed here. There are more plants, and also the presence of large carnivores such as polar bears, walrus, beluga and narwhal. These are migrant species. But these regions, though at first sight inhospitable and recently discovered, are becoming a highly strategic territory and attract a growing covetousness. The challenge lies mainly in the Antarctic in the extraction of subsoil resources.
[...] XIII (Ratification and Accession) 1. This Treaty shall be subject to ratification by signatory States. It will remain open for accession by any State Member of the United Nations or any other state that could be invited to accede to the Treaty with the consent of all Contracting Parties whose representatives are entitled to participate in the meetings referred to in Art IX of the Treaty The ratification of this Treaty or accession thereto shall be made by each State in accordance with its constitutional procedures The instruments of ratification and instruments of accession shall be deposited with the Government of the United States of America, which will be the Depositary Government The depositary Government shall inform all signatory and acceding States of the date of deposit of each instrument of ratification or accession and the date of entry into force of the Treaty and any amendment or any amendment thereto made When all the signatory States have deposited their instruments of ratification of this Treaty enters into force for those States and those States that have deposited their instruments of accession. [...]
[...] It is unthinkable to them that Canadians control the passage. For now, the dispute has not been sent to the Court of Arbitration in The Hague, but it is unlikely that it can be sent in the near future. Indeed, maritime traffic could be strengthened in the future because there is an intensification of research in soil, it reveals important mineral resources. The Russian Arctic focuses a lot of resources in large quantities (nickel, iron, coal, diamonds, phosphate, cobalt, tin, gas, oil, and half of gold production in the former USSR). [...]
[...] Marine life is due to the presence of zooplankton. It consists of fish, seals, whales, penguins, sea birds, killer whales, leopard seals. The Arctic (North Pole region) is a frozen ocean of the same size as the Antarctic. The ice is permanent; its depth varies between 50 to 60m. It is composed of different types of ice. We find the package and icebergs. The package is a seasonal ice that forms in winter and in summer and it creates seascapes. [...]
[...] Climatic upheaval with multiple outcomes Economic activities are far more important in the Arctic. This vast area is administered by several states, to operate or cause to exploit the resources they want. In northern Canada, to its limit with the Arctic, is a possible transition from the ice. This shift is causing a clash between diplomatic and legal views with respect to the U.S. and Canada. The clash concerns the interpretation of UNCLOS, that is to say the Law of the Sea that was adopted internationally in 1983. [...]
[...] The risk of rescue, complex, expensive (such as failure to rescue the Russian submarine Kursk in August 2000), along with long residual pollution are very active, not to mention the pollution of other origin (nuclear, industrial). Studies conducted in the early twenty-first century, believe that in twenty-five years, traffic could be several thousand ships a year. That is why Canada is to define standards of ships access to the waters of the Arctic Archipelago. A final important point is the question of defense of the strait. [...]
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