The Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) is a legally defined geographic feature of the United States. The OCS is the part of the internationally recognized continental shelf of the United States which does not fall under the jurisdictions of the individual U.S. states.

The United States released the geographic coordinates defining the outer limits of the continental shelf of the United States in areas beyond 200 nautical miles from the coast.

The outer limits of the U.S. continental shelf, in areas beyond 200 nm, are established by the U.S. Extended Continental Shelf Project led by the Department of State, the Department of the Interior, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

2024年2月7日 · The U.S. Extended Continental Shelf Project has analyzed data in each ocean region with potential U.S. ECS. On December 19, 2023, the Department of State announced the outer limits of the U.S. ECS in seven ocean regions: the Arctic, Atlantic, Bering Sea, Eastern and Western Gulf of Mexico, Northern Mariana Islands, and Pacific.

OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF.—The term ‘‘outer Continental Shelf’’means— all submerged lands lying seaward and outside of the area of lands beneath navigable waters as defined in section 2 of the Submerged Lands Act (Public Law 31, Eighty-third Con-gress, first session), and of which the subsoil and seabed apper-tain to the United States ...

The World Map of Extended Continental Shelf Areas depicts areas of continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles from territorial sea baselines, also referred to as extended continental shelf (ECS).

The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, created on August 7, 1953, defines the OCS as all submerged lands lying seaward of state coastal waters (3 miles offshore) which are under U.S. jurisdiction.

2023年12月19日 · The Department of State today announced the outer limits of the U.S. continental shelf in areas beyond 200 nautical miles from the coast. Continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles is known as the extended continental shelf or ECS.

The extended continental shelf, [1][2] scientific continental shelf, [1][2] or outer continental shelf, [3] refers to a type of maritime area, established as a geo-legal paradigm by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

ECS is that portion of the continental shelf that extends beyond 200 nautical miles. Determining the outer limits of the ECS is different from determining the extent of other maritime zones, such as the territorial sea and exclusive economic zone.