Fact Sheet: Outer Continental Shelf


Status of submissions (as of 1 September, 2010) Total number of Submissions Submitted by 46 States (of which 34 are developing States) 29 of the 53 Submissions are Partial Submissions 5 of the 53 Submissions are Joint Submissions 3 out of 53 Submissions include outer continental shelf off Antarctica


Total number of Preliminary Information Documents Submitted by 40 States (of which 37 are developing States) 3 of the 44 were submitted jointly between 2 or 3 States 10 States submitted both a Submission and Preliminary Information Document (of which 7 are developing States)


… information from Submissions Total accumulated area in submissions Area included in 2 or more submissions (overlap) Actual area contained in submissions Area generated from Antarctic Territory (South of 60°S) Depth statistics of outer continental shelf areas in submissions23 Minimum depth Maximum depth Average depth Median


Majority (value that appears most often) Standard deviation


… information from Recommendations Total submitted area for which CLCS has made recommendations Submitted area for which recommendations have been made, which do not include a summary* Submitted area for which recommendations have been made, which includes a summary that has been made public** Return rate of recommendations*** Area still to be considered by the CLCS


… information from Preliminary Information Total accumulated area derived from Preliminary Information Documents****


Other maritime zones (for comparison purposes) Territorial Sea Contiguous Zone


Exclusive Economic Zone Total area under national jurisdiction excluding the outer continental shelf High Seas Area of the Earth covered by Oceans


28 Continental Shelf 53 45


26.1 million km2 2.3 million km2 23.7 million km2 1.8 million km2


a few metres 8200 m 3600 m 3900 m 4100 m 1200 m


7.5 million km2 1.8 million km2


5.7 million km2 approx. 97%


over 15 million km2 > 4.0 million km2 ***


22.4 million km2 6.6 million km2 101.9 million km2 131.0 million km2 200.4 million km2 ca. 335 million km2


* **


Brazil and the Russian Federation.


Australia, Ireland (Porcupine Abyssal Plain), New Zealand, joint submission by France, Ireland, Spain and the UK, Norway (North East Atlantic and the Arctic), Mexico (western polygon in the Gulf of Mexico), France (French Guiana and New Caledonia), Barbados, and the UK (in respect of Ascen- sion Island).


Not including submis- sions where a new and revised submission was recommended.


****


Because of the preliminary nature of these documents, this number has a high uncertainty level.


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