A team from the university’s International Boundaries Research Unit (IBRU) have compiled the outline of potential hotspots based on historical and ongoing arguments over ownership. ‘We have attempted to show all known claims, agreed boundaries and one thing that has not appeared on any other maps, which is the number of areas that could be claimed by Canada, Denmark and the USA,’ said Martin Pratt, director of the IBRU.

An international race for ownership of mineral- and resource-rich regions around the Arctic has gathered pace in recent months as nations across the globe scramble to prepare evidence to submit to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf to take advantage of the opportunity to extend their territories beyond the existing 200-mile (322-kilometre) limit and up to 350 miles.

October 2008