multi useful source for the following info & generally
http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/html/20051m.htm
first regarding absolute bpn
since no protruding continental shelves or slopes have been found anywhere
north of nlat 87
the question evidently boils down to
what is the northernmost eez point in the world
& this has since 1980 been projected 200 nautical miles northward from a
point already very near jespers new island
on one of the other little islands lying also about 1 nautical mile north of
kaffeeklubben
& which is known simply as straight baseline point 96
or nlat 83d40m30s by wlong 30d40m42s
& which has thus produced the existing absolute bpn
at nlat 87d00m30s by wlong 30d40m42s
if denmark or greenland ever bothers to amend its straight baselines so as
to include the new island
then absolute bpn will jump a few hundred feet farther north as well as a
couple miles laterally
to nlat 87d00m34s8 by wlong 30d38m38s6
the previously identified maximum potential bpn based on land known to exist
as of today
then zipping back down to absolute bps
by sheer good luck it turns out that the only land area anywhere near the
slat 60 antarctic treaty cutoff point is the south sandwich islands
a british dependency for which the fullest possible claims of a 12nm
territorial sea & 200nm eez have been duly made
producing a worlds southernmost sovereign territorial point at least
somewhere on slat 59d59m
yikes a scant mile shy of the legal apparent cutoff point at slat 60
i say apparent because i still dont know if the south sandwich eez claim of
200nm is cut off by the slat60 limit of the antarctic treaty & thus fixes
absolute bps right there by law
or whether the full 200nm eez is legally permissible beyond slat 60
in which case absolute bps is pushed all the way south to slat 63d07m
interestingly it is only the south sandwich eez & no others that hang in the
balance here of how to correctly understand the cutoff described in article
vi of the treaty
& that is apparently the only remaining loose end
for determining all the global bp extremities
& it strikes me as an extremely interesting question in any case
so anyone please help tie it down if you can
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