Following major modernization of its interior spaces, operating systems, and laboratory facilities, the U.S.-sponsored JOIDES Resolution has successfully completed initial sea trials in the South China Sea. Equipment and system testing satisfied the American Bureau of Shipping representatives, with a few minor corrections.
“The successful sea trials,” notes Bill Ball, program director for the ship’s conversion, “were the direct result of hard work by the shipyard, ship’s crew, the ODL/Transocean project team and USIO personnel.”
The ship will temporarily remain in Singapore while the ship’s crew completes final details, and USIO personnel complete installation of the science equipment. The ship is to sail from Singapore on or before Jan. 25, with a transit to Guam and further sea trials. From Guam, the JOIDES will sail to Honolulu, where it will ready for a two-part IODP Pacific Equatorial Age Transect (PEAT) expedition. The first science party aboard the renewed JOIDES will leave Honolulu following a short port call scheduled to begin March 5; the second expedition will set sail in early May. Visit Ocean Leadership’s YouTube channel to see a video about the ship’s conversion. Click here to see details about Exp. 320, the first PEAT expedition.
While Chikyu is undergoing thruster repair work at Kobe's Rokko Island, Chikyu's lab staff has been reevaluating their onboard sample analyses methods. Chikyu's next IODP expedition, the Riser/Riserless Observatory 1 of NanTroSEIZE Stage 2, is to include riser drilling for the first time in the history of scientific ocean drilling. During riser drilling, in addition to core samples, scientists will collect drill cuttings; valuable sample material from deep below the seafloor. In ongoing review of laboratory work, CDEX has introduced measurements of cuttings into the offshore work flow. Because the cuttings are heavily contaminated by drilling mud that accumulates on them during transport down the drill pipe and back through the riser fairing, lab staff are now trying to establish the best way to clean the samples for scientific measurements. Every step of the process is being reviewed to improve the operation of future scientific expeditions. Click here for more on this topic
Jean-Noël Proust of the University of Rennes, France, will join U.S. Co-Chief Scientist Gregory Mountain of Rutgers University, U.S.A. as co-chief on the New Jersey Shallow Shelf Expedition 313, scheduled for implementation by the ECORD Science Operator (ESO) in May-Aug. 2009. Exp. 313 will investigate sea level history along a transect of the New Jersey continental margin. The science party expects to collect cores from early to mid-Miocene sedimentary sequences to estimate the timing and magnitude of global sea-level changes at that time, and to determine the relationship between sea-level changes and the architecture of the sedimentary sequences. ESO is managing Exp. 313 in coordination with the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP). Click here to see Greg Mountain present New Jersey Shallow Shelf on YouTube. Select the video segment entitled “IODP Exp. 313.”
In an open letter to the drilling community, members of the Japan Drilling Earth Science Consortium (J-DESC) express their collective hope for continuation of IODP as an integrated and international scientific research program. The text of the J-DESC letter follows:
“We, the members of the Japan Drilling Earth Science Consortium (J-DESC), hereby express our firm and strong hope for progressive continuation of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program beyond 2013. As a leading participating country in the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program along with the United States and European countries, Japan has taken the initiative in deep ocean drilling since the inauguration of IODP in 2003. With just half of its first 10 years completed, IODP has already recorded many successes. Core samples have been obtained from the Arctic Ocean for the first time, new knowledge about the mechanisms of gas hydrate formation has been acquired, the history of sea-level rise has been clarified by studies of coral reefs, cores have been drilled through the upper oceanic crust, and long-term borehole monitoring of drilled holes has been initiated. As a result, IODP has been progressively accumulating many valuable data such as can only be realized by deep ocean drilling.”
To continue reading the J-DESC letter, click here.
The next phase of IODP is under consideration and input from the U.S.-based scientific community is needed. If you are a scientist working in the U.S., and interested in the future of IODP, you are invited to participate in the online workshop, Charting the Future Course of Scientific Ocean Drilling (CHART). CHART provides an important opportunity for the U.S. community to organize and articulate its scientific priorities and goals. Because the workshop is to be conducted online, all scientists can participate at their leisure; as often as they want, whenever they can. Registration opens on Feb. 2, when the workshop begins. The workshop will feature discussion boards on various topics. Everyone may read the discussion boards, but only registered participants may post comments. Look for new discussion questions posted throughout the workshop interim as moderators guide and focus discussion based on community input.
The workshop will result in a white paper that will become a key part of the IODP renewal process, and which will support planning activities at the international INVEST Workshop to be held Sept. 2009. Registration for CHART is free and open to all U.S. scientists. Please register, visit, and contribute as often as you like. Register on Feb. 2; contribute until March 6.
School of Rock Presents Summer Session for Teachers
IODP and the Consortium for Ocean Leadership are pleased to announce the 2009 School of Rock teacher research expedition on June 23–July 5, aboard the JOIDES Resolution. School of Rock 2009 participants will be among the first to work and sail aboard the newly renovatedresearchvessel. School of Rock offers K-12, informal, preservice, and undergraduate educators the opportunity to conduct hands-on analyses of sediment and hard-rock cores with scientists and technicians who specialize in IODP research. This year’s workshop will focus on how cores and CORKS shed light on the hydrology, geology, and tectonics of the Juan de Fuca plate. The deadline to apply is Feb. 5. Please encourage geology and science teachers and others in your respective communities to apply!
ESSAC delegates have extended hosting opportunities for the 2009 ECORD Distinguished Lecturer Programme to all IODP-related science programs in non-ECORD countries to expand IODP’s reach and visibility. The program features leading IODP scientists, with first-hand reports on exciting IODP scientific discoveries. Lecturers include:
Achim Kopf of MARUM, University of Bremen, Germany—a NanTroSEIZE science party member—will speak on subduction, mega-earthquakes and other geohazards;
Peter Clift, University of Aberdeen, Scotland, UK, will speak on “Mountain Building and the Development of the Asian Monsoon: A chicken and egg problem for IODP” and;
R. John Parkes, University of Cardiff, Wales, UK, will speak on the subseafloor biosphere.
Although deadlines have passed, ESSAC and program lecturers will work to accommodate host institutions. For more information, contact
CDEX is requesting beautiful photos of the drilling vessel Chikyu to enter into a competition that will select the most engaging visual entries for an online calendar that can be used as desktop wallpaper. The theme of the contest is “Our Chikyu”. Details for photo submission are online. The winning entrant will receive a special original token gift. Deadline for submission is Feb. 10, 2009. CDEX looks forward to your contributions!
Two 2009 ECORD Summer School sessions will be held: Aug. 31-Sept. 11 at the University of Bremen, Germany, and July─August at the University of Urbino, Italy. The Bremen session focuses on Geodynamics of Mid-Ocean Ridges with special emphasis on Slow-Spreading Mid-Ocean Ridges. The two-week intensive course is cosponsored by ECORD, the GLOMAR Bremen International Graduate School for Marine Sciences, MARUM Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, and InterRidge International Cooperation in Ridge-Crest Studies.
The Urbino Summer School in paleoclimatology is to be held in collaboration with the U.S.-based School of Rock; it will be structured in two parts. The first part (July 15 – 21) will mainly focus on the stratigraphy and sedimentology of deep-sea sediments as paleoclimate archives. The second part of the course (July 23 – Aug. 5) will discuss past climates variability and dynamics of Cretaceous and Cenozoic climates at different time scales and will integrate lectures on the many different areas of paleoclimatology, including biogeochemical cycling, paleoceanography, and climate models.
The Australian and New Zealand IODP Consortium, called ANZIC, spent 2008 settling into full operation. The requisite memo of understanding (MOU) with the U.S. National Science Foundation and MEXT has been initialed (it should be finalized soon). There have been several meetings of the ANZIC Governing Council held (chaired by Kate Wilson of CSIRO), and one meeting of the ANZIC Science Committee (chaired by Will Howard of University of Tasmania). The Australian IODP Office, which doubles as the ANZIC Program Membership Office, is established at the Research School of Earth Sciences at the Australian National University in Canberra.
“ANZIC has now filled all the positions in the Science Advisory Structure (SAS) to which it is entitled,” says Neville Exon, ANZIC IODP liaison and Australia’s IODP Program Scientist. “Representatives attended their first SAS meetings from early 2008.” he says. “A number of proposals are extant in our region, we have instigated new drilling proposals in the last year, and we intend to work towards more proposals in 2009,” he adds.
ANZIC, with its 30 percent associate membership status, is entitled annually to three positions on each of Chikyu and JOIDES Resolution, and one position on an alternative platform. “Of special interest to ANZIC scientists,” says Chris Hollis, GNS Science, Wellington, and the scientist in New Zealand responsible for IODP activities, “are the Great Barrier Reef expedition off northeast Australia, the Canterbury Basin expedition off southeast New Zealand in late 2009, and the Wilkes Land expedition off the Australian Antarctic Territory in early 2010. ANZIC scientists have been involved in proposing these three expeditions and we are excited by the very important environmental science results which will come from them.
Bookmark www.iodp.org.au, where more details of ANZIC are available.
Jan. 1, 2009 started the third annual cycle of the IODP-MI engineering development proposal submission and review process. IODP-MI will accept proposals for FY 2011 funding consideration until April 15, 2009. New this year, IODP-MI is requesting all proponents to submit a letter of intent to IODP-MI no later than Feb. 15, to ensure that the proposal is within the purview of IODP-MI. Targets for technology development within IODP are listed in the IODP Technology Roadmap and in the one-page list of higher-priority developments identified during the July 2007 Engineering Development Panel meeting. Prospective proponents are strongly encouraged to submit proposals as early as possible to benefit from the proposal nurturing process integrated into the submission and review procedure. Find proposal submission guidelines, processes, templates, examples and submission service online. Also review abstracts of proposals submitted last year. If you have questions on any aspect of the engineering development proposal generation, including submission, routing, review, or implementation, please contact Greg Myers, or Kelly Oskvig.
New Proposal Category Available for April Submissions
The IODP schema of proposal categories has been amended with a new type called Complementary Project Proposals (CPPs). This category differs from others in mainly two aspects: (1) provides faster tracking through the proposal evaluation system; and (2) requires proponents to raise a substantial part of the funding needed for the proposed drilling effort. This new proposal category might be attractive for joint industry-academia efforts, national research initiatives by coastal states, and for more limited operations. The CPP proposal may also be appropriate for groups of researchers or research institutions with the ability to raise million- dollar-level funding for ocean drilling projects. Since successful CPPs will receive substantial financial support from the IODP, they must be of high scientific interest to the program, and all data must be handled according to IODP policies. Learn more at the IODP Proposal Submissions page. The next deadline for new proposal submissions is April 1, 2009.
In case you haven’t yet heard, INVEST (the acronym stands for IODP New Ventures in Exploring Scientific Targets) is shaping up to be a large, multidisciplinary, international, scientific meeting to define the scientific research goals of the second phase of IODP scheduled to begin in late 2013. INVEST will take place at the University of Bremen in Germany, from Sept. 23-25, 2009. The meeting, open to all interested scientists and students, provides the principal opportunity for science community members everywhere to influence the future of scientific ocean drilling.
“This meeting is to build the framework for the next tier of success in scientific ocean drilling,” explains Hans Christian Larsen, IODP-MI Vice President of Science Planning. “It is important to gain input from a broad swath of scientists actively working in or having a future interest in IODP. INVEST provides the global scientific drilling community with the opportunity to audit itself: we’ll summarize the state of knowledge across interdisciplinary geoscience themes; identify emerging science, new research initiatives, and implementation strategies. Also identifying fiscal and technological needs is of paramount importance.”
IODP can provide funds for the JOIDES Resolution for only eight months every year. However, if another scientific drilling project could obtain funding for the remaining four months, it would provide the continuity of infrastructure services as well as provide “cost avoidance” that would free funds to enhance scheduled (funded) IODP expeditions. Based on this premise, IODP-MI has made efforts to organize an industry-funded Ocean Drilling Consortium, which would carry out scientific drilling four months a year. IODP-MI President Manik Talwani has made several visits to energy companies and succeeded in acquiring funds from energy companies to support a workshop held last June and attended by 75 scientists, including 20 from industry. The result was a draft proposal to create a drilling program for four months a year for the four-year period 2010-13. This proposal aims at scientific targets common to academia and industry. The final proposal requests about $28 million annually and by the end of Jan. 2009 will go to a large number of energy companies for possible sponsorship. Industry commitments are requested by June 15, 2009.
“ODC is difficult but do-able,” says Manik Talwani, who is spearheading the effort. “It requires a major effort to persuade companies that working with IODP will be a win-win situation for them.”
Scientific Honor to be Awarded to IODP-MI President
The German Geophysical Society (DGG) has announced the award of the Wiechert Medal of DGG to IODP-MI President Manik Talwani. This award will be presented to Professor Talwani at the DGG annual meeting to be held in March at Kiel, Germany. This award is given to a scientist who has made outstanding contributions to the field of geophysics. It is named after the famed seismologist Emil Wiechert, who founded the DGG in 1922. Professor Talwani will deliver the keynote lecture at the DGG annual meeting. The Wiechert medal has been awarded to 17 scientists since 1955, when it was first awarded to Julius Bartels. Other awardees include Beno Gutemberg (1956), Inge Lehman (1964), and Keith Runcorn (1996). The immediate previous awardee is Mark Zoback (2006).
By most assessments, the AGU 2008 Fall Meeting was the largest in recent history: available exhibition floor space was sold out in November. Unofficial estimates from AGU cite more than 15,000 scientists, researchers, and students who attended. IODP and Ocean Leadership presented their complementary programs in a lobby-style exhibit that included media-rich presentations of print, video, and live content. A video wall in the IODP booth demonstrated a series of program successes in research achievements, platform operations, and technology implementation. See all 12 video segments exhibited at AGU on YouTube, where IODP has opened a new online channel for comments, discussion, and video-streaming.
The IODP Town Hall Meeting attracted nearly 400 people to hear a leadership panel answer questions about the program’s future operations and funding.
French scientist/author Christine Laverne, shown left working aboard IODP Exp. 309, signed copies of her new book, “Drill Me a Painting” at the IODP booth at AGU Fall Meeting. Approximately 250 copies of the IODP edition of her book, which describes her experiences during DSDP, ODP, and IODP, were distributed to teachers and researchers in San Francisco. (photo credit: LDEO).
A video wall in the IODP booth at AGU showed segments on Exps. 302 (ACEX), 309/312 (Superfast Spreading), 310 (Tahiti Sea Level), NanTroSEIZE Stage 1, and previewed Exp. 313, (New Jersey Shallow Shelf).
Feb. 5 – Deadline to apply for School of Rock 2009, Cores, CORKS and Hydrology on the Juan de Fuca Ridge, sponsored by IODP and the Consortium for Ocean Leadership.
Feb. 10—Deadline to submit photos for CDEX calendar competition.
May 24-27 —Joint Assemblyof the American Geophysical Union and Canadian Geoscience Associations. Toronto, Canada. Visit IODP booth presented by Canadian Consortium for Ocean Drilling (CCOD)
June 23– July 5 – School of Rock 2009, Cores, CORKS and Hydrology on the Juan de Fuca Ridge, sponsored by IODP and the Consortium for Ocean Leadership.
To download IODP E-NEWS in a PDF format CLICK HERE For more information or inquiries about any topic in this e-newsletter, please e-mail
IODP E-News is a bimonthly publication of Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Management International (IODP-MI). It is produced and distributed by IODP-MI for the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program under the sponsorship of the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), the Ministry of Culture, Education, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan, and other participating countries. Its content is based upon research supported under NSF Contract OCE-0432224.
