Its all the rage this week: a mountain range along the bottom of the Arctic Ocean.

The Lomonosov Ridge could determine how much Arctic seabed Canada could one day claim as its own. It could even settle the question of Santas citizenship at the North Pole.

Unlocking the ridges secrets may not be the magic bullet that Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird described this week, after he sent the scientists back to look at it again.

But there are still things left to learn, especially whether and how it is even attached to Canadas continental shelf.

In their submission to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf last week, government scientists stopped short of the North Pole, which lies along the ridge.

Baird didnt explain why they made the choice to stop where they did, but he said he wasnt happy with it.

The reality is the Lomonosov Ridge wasnt fully mapped in the submissions that my department did, Baird said.

And frankly, we think its important when you do this extensive mapping; we wanted to get the entire Arctic map, including on the ridge.

According to geologists, the ridges shape and history are largely understood.

And mapping the whole thing would take Canadians all the way to Russia.

Originally posted here:

Baird: Finish Arctic mapping