The Honourable Stéphane Dion, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the Honourable Jim Carr, Minister of Natural Resources, the Honourable Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, announced the launch of Canada’s 2016 Arctic expedition this week. The purpose of the expedition is to collect important scientific information to support Canada’s submission on the extended continental shelf in the Arctic Ocean.

This year’s survey is a collaborative effort with Sweden, and Danish scientists will also participate in the research.

The Canadian icebreaker CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent will leave Dartmouth on July 22, 2016, for Tromsø, Norway, where it will take on board personnel from Natural Resources Canada’s Geological Survey of Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s Canadian Hydrographic Service and Global Affairs Canada before embarking on a six-week expedition in the Arctic Ocean.

On the voyage between Canada and Norway, the Canadian Hydrographic Service will undertake a seabed-mapping expedition under the Atlantic Ocean Research Alliance. This will be the fifth such expedition, which involves Canada, the European Union and the United States.

After the Canada-Sweden expedition ends, Canadian researchers aboard the CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent will go on to collect data in the Canada Basin, in the western Arctic Ocean, as part of a collaboration with colleagues from the United States.

Minister Dion said, “Securing international recognition of the outer limits of Canada’s continental shelf in the Arctic Ocean is a Canadian priority. Our collaboration with Sweden, Denmark and the United States is a prime example of positive cooperation in the region.

The CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent will rendezvous with the Swedish icebreaker Oden off Svalbard, Norway, on August 9, and the two vessels will then make their way to the ice edge to begin scientific data collection, which will focus on a number of priority areas in the Arctic Ocean, including the Amundsen Basin, Lomonosov Ridge, Makarov Basin and Alpha Ridge.
The CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent will rendezvous with the Swedish icebreaker Oden off Svalbard, Norway, on August 9, and the two vessels will then make their way to the ice edge to begin scientific data collection, which will focus on a number of priority areas in the Arctic Ocean, including the Amundsen Basin, Lomonosov Ridge, Makarov Basin and Alpha Ridge. 

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