30
Opinion of the Court
Between May and July 1983, the feature was observed above water several times, although its elevation in relation to mean high water was not known. Based on two helicopter observations of the feature and estimates of sea level in relation to mean high water, the Master concluded that Dinkum Sands could have been above high water by a matter of inches in September 1983. The Master found that the feature was "consistently" below mean high water in 1981 and below mean high water by September—the end of the open water season—in both 1981 and 1982. Id., at 309. Relying largely on the 1981-1983 data, the Master concluded that Dinkum Sands is not an island.
Alaska makes no mention of the 1981 joint monitoring project. The Master discussed the State's methodological objections to the results at length, see id., at 255-269, and we see no reason to revisit the Master's conclusion that those objections are unpersuasive. Alaska does not explain why the Master should have relied on a single August 1949 measurement of Dinkum Sands' elevation in relation to mean high water rather than on the exhaustive survey expressly designed to determine Dinkum Sands' status under Article 10(1) of the Convention. In contending that Dinkum Sands has been above mean high water except on a "handful of occasions," Alaska recognizes that Dinkum Sands slumps in elevation during the open water season between late July and September. Alaska Exceptions Brief 54. Alaska suggests that natural processes build up Dinkum Sands "just . . . prior to the autumn freeze-up," and that the feature then remains above mean high water for 9 to 10 months of the year. See ibid. There is no basis in the record, however, for concluding that Dinkum Sands is above mean high water during the winter months. During the winter, the area is completely covered by pack ice. The sole measurement of the feature's elevation during the winter was that taken in March 1981, and it was then below mean high water. Report 286. But even if the record demonstrated that the
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