Washington DC, United States

The landmass of the United States saw a sudden expansion by 1 million square kilometres (more than 386,000 square miles), which is more than twice the area of Spain. 

Advertisment

This expansion in land was not because of strange geological forces or the invasion of a foreign land but because the country had made attempts to lay claim over its surrounding ocean-floor territory.

Continental shelves cover the areas of the seabed around huge landmasses where the sea is comparatively shallow in comparison with the open ocean. 

As per international law, the countries are free to claim these continental shelves through which they are able to manage and exploit their resources.

Advertisment

Nearly 75 countries have defined their Extended Continental Shelf (ECS) limits, which refers to the continental shelf's portion beyond 200 nautical miles (230 miles) from the coast. Till last year, the United States had not defined its ECS. 

New geographic coordinates were announced by the US State Department on December 19, 2023, which they claimed was their ECS area.

Also Read: US finalising 'take it or leave it' deal for Israel-Hamas war

Advertisment

The US authorities have collaborated with the US Geological Survey, NOAA and 12 other agencies to gather geological data for defining the outer limits of their ECS since 2003. 

The United States has now claimed ECS in seven offshore areas like the Arctic, Atlantic (east coast), Bering Sea, Pacific (west coast), Mariana Islands, and two areas in the Gulf of Mexico.

The area claimed in total is 1 million square kilometres (more than 386,000 square miles) in size.

“America is larger than it was yesterday,” said Mead Treadwell, who is a former Alaska lieutenant governor and former chair of the US Arctic Research Commission, while speaking to Alaska Public Media.

“It’s not quite the Louisiana Purchase. It’s not quite the purchase of Alaska, but the new area of land and subsurface resources under the land controlled by the United States is two Californias larger,” Treadwell added.

How US define its ECS?

Explaining the process of making the definition official, Treadwell said that the US needs to submit reports and data to the United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). 

However, the UNCLOS has not been ratified by the US because of complex political disagreements (the agreement has been ratified by 168 states and the European Union).

Watch: US-India deal allows access to vital defence resources, Indian officers at US Command Centres

Because of this, there is some uncertainty about how the proposition will be accepted as per the international law. 

“If somebody came back and said, ‘Your science is bad,’ I think the United States would listen,” said Treadwell, while speaking to the media. “But I don’t think science is bad. I think we’ve had very good science," he added.

(With inputs from agencies)