New seafloor mapping technology and article 76 of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the law of the sea

A new generation of multi-beam sonar systems now offers unprecedented detail and accuracy in mapping the ocean floor. This technology provides an important new tool for many ocean uses, including the delimitation and defence of rights to those uses. It is assuming an increasingly important role in the work to define and claim the outer continental shelf under Article 76 of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOS). Examination of its role suggests that this new technology facilitates, complicates, and even dictates the implementation of Article 76, with instructive results for the LOS Convention and other treaties requiring scientific and technical input for their implementation.