In may 2009, Portugal submitted the outer limit of the continental shelf to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf.The outer limit of the continental shelf is the line comprised by the outermost fixed points situated in the submerged prolongation of the land mass of the coastal State, according to Article 76 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Two formulae to determine the fixed points were used: Gardiner formula - outermost fixed points where the sediment thickness is at least 1% of the shortest distance from such point to the foot of the continental slope; and the Hedberg formula - fixed points not exceeding 60 nautical miles from the foot of the continental slope. The outer limit of the continental shelf shall not exceed 350 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured or the 100 nautical miles from the 2500 meter isobaths.

The study area of SIMAtlantic Project composed by Ospar III and IV regions