For the first time in scientific ocean drilling history, scientists aboard NanTroSEIZE Exp. 319 Riser/Riserless Observatory-1 successfully employed Chikyu’s state-of-the-art riser-drilling system in water depths of 2,054 meters to penetrate 1,600 meters below the seafloor into one of Earth’s most active earthquake zones off Kii Peninsula of SW Japan. The target drill site, in the Kumano Basin, is a fore-arc basin of the Nankai Trough under the influence of the strong Kuroshio ocean current. Researchers are collecting samples and data and preparing for the future installation of Long-Term Borehole Monitoring Systems (LTBMS) in the Nankai accretionary wedge. Exp. 319 is ably led by co-chief scientists Eiichiro Araki of JAMSTEC; Timothy Byrne of University of Connecticut, U.S.A.; Lisa McNeill of University of Southampton, U.K.; and Demian Saffer of Pennsylvania State University, U.S.A. The expedition is expected to wrap up in August. Shortly thereafter, IODP Exp. 322, NanTroSEIZE Stage 2: Subduction Inputs will begin.
The JOIDES Resolution(JR) set sail from Victoria, Canada early in July for a eight-week expedition to investigate the role of the Bering Sea in climate change. Led by co-chief scientists Christina Ravelo of University of California, Santa Cruz, U.S.A, and Kozo Takahashi of Kyushu University, Japan, Exp. 323, Bering Sea Paleoceanography aims to extend the research findings of the 2004 IODP Arctic Coring Expedition (ACEX 302), which drilled and collected sediment samples from the Lomonosov Ridge in the central Arctic Ocean. Scientists from 15 countries are taking part in the expedition.
Co-Chief Christina Ravelo summarized the Bering Sea drilling plan: “Bering Sea is essential to our ability to decipher the history of the Bering Strait gateway and determine its impact on global and regional climatic and oceanic processes. New cores will help us understand the exchange of heat and chemical elements running through the Bering Strait, and how those may have influenced Arctic and North Pacific environments. It also will help us understand how sea ice accelerates climate change, and how subpolar ecosystems respond to climate change.”
The Pacific Equatorial Age Transect (PEAT) II concluded after 45 days at sea, in San Diego. The expedition accomplished its mission in recovering well-preserved climate archives to address key time slices of the Cenozoic period. Drilling was designed to obtain the best-preserved carbonate record in the Pacific equatorial region, from the Eocene to the Miocene periods. Four sites were drilled with a near 97 percent recovery rate; a total of 1.6 miles of core retrieved. Also, a record for the deepest advanced piston coring (APC) borehole was set: 414 meters below seafloor. (The last record stood at 398 meters and was drilled in 1992 during ODP.) According to Co-Chief Scientist Isabella Raffi of Universitá "G. D'Annunzio,” Italy, a high proportion of the cored sediments are comprised of microfossils. Watch PEAT co-chief scientists discuss the expedition on the PEAT News Network (PNN) with live coverage provided from aboard the JR throughout the two-part PEAT investigations. See a PowerPoint about PEAT recently shown to IODP stakeholders by science party member Ted Moore—lots of charts, graphs, and stats about the sediments cored.
New Jersey Shallow Shelf Operations Shown to TV Crews
After being at sea for 53 days, scientists and crew members aboard the ECORD-supported New Jersey Shallow Shelf Exp. 313 hosted several teams of video crews to the L/B Kayd on June 23, to share a glimpse into their research. A crew boat of reporters and other visitors traveled about 50 miles from shore to reach the liftboat platform that supports the expedition. Each person was lifted to the L/B Kayd in a steel-caged trapeze ride. Once onboard, the various investigative news teams interviewed Co-Chief Scientist Greg Mountain, Staff Scientist Dave McInroy, Operations Manager Dave Smith, and other members of the science party and technical crew. See U.S. network news reports streamed here.
During the course of the 12-week expedition, Co-Chiefs Gregory Mountain of Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA, and Jean-Noël Proust of University of Rennes, France, switched places more than once or twice! See photos submitted by NJSS science party members on Flickr.
BBC (British Broadcasting Corp.) News Environment Correspondent Richard Black became the first journalist outside Japan to report live aboard the Chikyu as the scientific drilling vessel conducted research in the Nankai Trough Seismogenic Zone. The correspondent and multimedia producer Jonathan Hallam were embedded on Chikyu from May 25-30, after reaching the vessel by helicopter in the Pacific Ocean off Japan’s southwest coast. The BBC coverage generated a multimedia chronicle of daily reports, interviews, live broadcasts, videos and podcasts, showcasing the scientific program to a world-wide audience. Chikyu’s science party and shipboard crew have been in the earthquake-generating zone since May 12. To see daily reports, view photo and video galleries, and meet the shipboard science party, click here.
School of Rock Exposes Teachers to Subsea Research
The fourth annual U.S.-sponsored School of Rock departed San Diego, Calif. with 15 teachers from the United States, Europe, and Japan aboard the JOIDES Resolution. The teachers participated in a remedial cementing operation on the Juan de Fuca ridge, while learning about hydrology, CORKS, and cores. Education Director Leslie Peart accompanied the group along with a number of other USIO staff, including Curator John Firth from Texas A & M University (TAMU). When School of Rock concluded, one more teacher stepped aboard the JR: Teacher Douglas LaVigne, a secondary teacher from Georgia (U.S.) is on board the Bering Sea Paleoceanography Expedition 323, currently underway. LaVigne is blogging at http://joidesresolution.org/blog
See more notes about what’s happening on the JRhere.
Bradford Clement, professor and chair of the Department of Earth and Environment at Florida International University in Miami, has been appointed director of IODP at Texas A&M University. As director of IODP, Dr. Clement will work closely with the ocean drilling community and with USIO partners, the Consortium for Ocean Leadership and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory to develop a new vision and structure for IODP and the USIO beyond 2013. Brad currently chairs the U.S. Science Advisory Committee (USAC) and has a long history of involvement with IODP, having sailed on four expeditions, worked as an ODP staff scientist, and served on the JOIDES Ocean History Panel. He will assume his new position on Aug. 1, 2009. To see the entire TAMU announcement, click here.
Wataru Azuma, director of Kochi Core Center, has been appointed the Director-General of the Center for Deep Earth Exploration (CDEX) at the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), effective July 1. Dr. Azuma succeeds Asahiko Taira, who has now assumed the position of Executive Director of JAMSTEC.
“I am very excited to lead CDEX and the Deep Sea Drilling Vessel Chikyu,” said Dr. Azuma. “Chikyu's current NanTroSEIZE operations have demonstrated that she is ready to take on our dreams of ultra-deep scientific explorations. I will enthusiastically direct CDEX and Chikyu to maximize science, using Chikyu's unique and powerful drilling capabilities and state-of-art research facilities.”
Congratulations and best wishes to both Dr. Taira and Dr. Azuma as they assume new challenges in positions important to IODP future operations.
Following an IODP-MI Members’ Meeting vote that cleared the way for a single IODP management office, Kiyoshi Suyehiro, IODP-MI president and CEO, announced plans to close the IODP-MI Washington, DC office by Dec. 31, 2009, in anticipation of an office relocation to Tokyo early next year. The Sapporo office will relocate to Tokyo at the end of 2009, as well, effectively combining IODP-MI’s two management locales into a single-office operation.
A nonprofit Japanese corporation is being established to “extend the IODP-MI umbrella to Japanese soil,” Dr. Suyehiro said. The new IODP-MI office will be located at the Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology (TUMST), near Tokyo Station. A multi-year contract will allow IODP-MI to stay until the end of FY2013.
“There will be some new structuring and configuring of staff and functions in the new IODP-MI location to fulfill its tasks and responsibilities,” allows Dr. Suyehiro. “There also will be some cost reductions associated with the move.” Look for updates to IODP-MI staffing and contact information here.
IODP-MI Introduces Deep Crustal Drilling Technology
In collaboration with industry partner AGR Drilling Services, IODP has engineered an advanced drilling technology for use in scientific drilling operations. The technology, called “riserless mud recovery” (RMR™), was developed for use by IODP drilling vessels. The new technology holds potential for reaching a scientific goal held since Project Mohole of the 1950s: Drilling all the way through ocean crust into the Earth’s mantle.
With AGR’s support, IODP led an engineering effort to adapt existing technology to drill very deep holes in very deep regions of the ocean, says Engineering Manager Greg Myers. The RMR™ technology, owned by AGR, can operate in water depths up to 12,000 feet. Funding for its engineering was provided by the DeepStar Consortium, a deepwater industry group that supports deepwater technology development projects and leverages the industry’s financial and technical resources.
For more information about IODP engineering initiatives, visit Engineering Development.
Places for INVEST registrants are still available—though air fares and accommodations in Bremen are available on a first-come, first-serve basis. The large multidisciplinary international conference, to be held at University of Bremen, Germany, from Sept. 23-25, 2009, is open to all interested scientists and students.
“INVEST is an opportunity for everyone interested in scientific ocean drilling to contribute to scientific goals that are to become pillars of the second phase of IODP,” said Hans Christian Larsen, IODP-MI vice president for planning, and an architect of the INVEST meeting. “Post-2013, IODP will be re-energized with revised themes, new ideas, and more participants.”
The Australian Committee for Ocean Geosciences focused on INVEST during its most recent meeting in early July. Both Australia and New Zealand will prepare white papers on future science for INVEST, projected for August availability.
The INVEST third circular with program structure and list of speakers is online.
Discussion themes include subseafloor microbial life, geodynamics, geohazards, Earth’s exterior environment through geological time, climate- and sea-level change, and borehole instrumentation as part of an Earth and Oceans observatory initiative. INVEST will highlight emerging fields and potential future directions. Registration remains open until Aug. 3. Travel support is available from most IODP member countries.
The International Year of Planet Earth is nearly at an end—IYPE runs until December 2009. A joint initiative by UNESCO and the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS), IYPE has aimed to ensure greater and more effective use of knowledge accumulated by the world’s 400,000 Earth scientists. The Year’s ultimate goal of helping to build safer, healthier and wealthier societies around the globe is expressed in the Year’s sub-theme, ‘Earth science for Society’.
In the first quarter of 2009, Sri Lanka and Angola established their own IYPE National Committees, bringing the total number of countries to 80 (including the IYPE Regional Committee for East and Southeast Asia). National Committees were asked to complete a questionnaire concerning the impact of their activities, and their vision of the future.
The fifth IYPE Board meeting was held in London in January. The following agreements emerged: 1) Explore options for creating a World Geoscience Forum, 2) Explore options for creating a global platform to advocate and represent environmental geoscience contributions to society, 3) Evaluate the impact of the National IYPE Committees in their respective countries and their ideas for prolonged existence, 4) Collect global support for the Young Earth Scientist (Y.E.S.) initiative. 5) Explore options for a global and self-supporting outreach initiative on Planet Earth. To learn more, visit www.iugs.org.
Sept. 12-13—ACE Symposium Workshop: Developing an integrated strategy to recover paleoclimate records from the Antarctic margin and Southern Ocean, Granada, Spain. Email Richard Levy (), Laura De Santis (), or Tim Naish () to express your interest in participating in this workshop.
Nov. 20-22—Planet Earth Lisbon Event (PELE2009) to commemorate the end of the International Year of Planet Earth triennium, to evaluate the results, and to build on the legacy of the IYPE, Lisbon, Portugal.
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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.
