The science party of the Nankai Trough Seismogenic Zone Experiment (NanTroSEIZE) Expedition 314 departed from the port city of Shingu aboard Chikyu on Sept. 21 amid great fanfare, according to co-chief scientist Harold Tobin. “[co-chief] Masa [Kinoshita] and I had multiple press interviews, including a live feed on the Japanese equivalent of Good Morning America on NHK, with most of the science party,” reported Tobin. “As the ship left the dock, no less than four news helicopters were circling us!”
The science party, including 14 scientists, four specialty coordinators and two staff scientists, will drill and log six target sites in one of the most active earthquake zones on Earth. The September launch starts the first in a series of scientific drilling expeditions that will retrieve geological samples and provide scientific data from the Nankai Trough fault zone for the first time. The Nankai Trough has generated large-scale earthquakes and tsunamis for millions of years, including historic earthquakes in 1944 and 1946, which measured 8.1 and 8.3, respectively, on the Richter scale. JAMSTEC is managing the Stage 1 NanTroSEIZE expeditions. Find daily reports and other expedition-related information at www.jamstec.go.jp/chikyu/eng/Expedition/NantroSEIZE/exp314.html.
Stage 1 drill targets include 1) the incoming sediment of Shikoku Basin and the underlying oceanic crust, 2) the frontal thrust system at the toe of the accretionary wedge (where sediment is added to tectonic plates through frictional contact), 3) the mid-wedge mega-splays, and 4) two approximately 1,000-meter deep holes at sites identified for later deep penetration into seismogenic zone faults. The current expedition continues until Nov. 16. The second Stage 1 expedition will sail from Nov. 17-Dec. 19, 2007, with the Exp. 315 science party on board.
Expedition 314 is led by Co-Chief Scientist Harold Tobin of University of Wisconsin-Madison and Co-Chief Scientist Masa Kinoshita of JAMSTEC. Full information about NanTroSEIZE is online at www.jamstec.go.jp/chikyu/eng/Expedition/NantroSEIZE/index.html.
TheChikyuprepares to leave Shingu Port for the first leg of NanTroSEIZE expeditions.
IODP Program Member Offices (PMOs) are calling for science party applicants for two USIO expeditions: the Canterbury Basin Sea Level and the Wilkes Land Paleoceanography Expeditions. Scheduled for mid-November 2008 to mid-Jan. 2009, the Canterbury Basin Sea Level Expedition is based on IODP Proposal 600-Full. It aims to understand the relative importance of global sea level (eustasy) versus local tectonic and sedimentary processes in controlling continental-margin deposits since the Oligocene.
The Wilkes Land Paleoceanography Expedition, scheduled for Jan.-March 2009 is based on IODP Proposals 482-Full3 and 638-APL2. This expedition will investigate the long-term record of Antarctic glaciation and its relationship with global sea level, paleoclimate and paleoceanographic changes.
Summaries of the planned drilling programs and the current expedition schedule are available at http://iodp.tamu.edu/scienceops. Expeditionschedules are dependent on the completion date of the conversion ofthe drillship JOIDES Resolution and subject to change. Prospective participants should apply to their respective IODP Program Member Office (www.iodp.org/program-member-offices) by Nov. 30, 2007. PMOs will forward applications of nominated scientists to the United States Implementing Organization (USIO), which is responsible for staffing these expeditions. The USIO will work closely with the co-chief scientists and PMOs to maximize scientific output while balancing member country staffing quotas.
An article about the Tahiti Sea Level Expedition 310 is featured in the newest edition of Scientific Drilling, authored by the expedition science party. The article discusses the scientific objectives of the expedition, the drilling strategy implemented, and the science party’s preliminary results. Six hundred meters of reef cores were retrieved from 37 holes in three different areas around Tahiti. The collected cores provide an exceptional and high resolution record of sea level, and climatic and environmental changes during part of the last deglaciation, the authors conclude. A pilot study of geomicrobiological life, also undertaken during the expedition according to the authors, will provide new insights into the development of microbial communities on modern reef slope environments.
Read the full article about Tahiti Sea Level Exp. 310 in its entirety online at www.iodp.org/scientific-publications. The IODP Proceedings of the expedition are online on the same page, listed under Exhibition Reports.
The Kochi Core Center (KCC), jointly operated by the Kochi University and JAMSTEC’s Kochi Institute of Core Sample Research, received its first batch of marine core samples from the Texas A&M University (TAMU) as part of the DSDP/ODP legacy core redistribution plan. The core samples were collected from the western Pacific and the Indian oceans over the past three decades. It is expected that the core redistribution plan will be completed one year from now.
Core samples collected during the Deep Sea Drilling Program (DSDP) and the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP)—from all the world’s oceans—are being redistributed among IODP’s three core repositories: KCC, the Bremen Core Repository at Bremen University in Germany and the Gulf Coast Repository operated by TAMU. The total length of cores to be curated at the KCC is about 84 km. The core samples delivered consist of ‘residues’ from core samples, i.e. those that have been used by researchers for conducting scientific analyses. More information about the legacy core redistribution is online at www.iodp.org/repositories.
Core samples collected by the deep sea drilling vessel Chikyu in future IODP expeditions also will be curated at the KCC. The KCC web site is currently under reconstruction.
Approximately 130 researchers gathered at the MARUM Research Center Ocean Margins at Bremen University, Germany, to discuss “North Atlantic and Arctic Climate Variability.” Fifteen keynote speakers gave an overview of the current state of affairs of this important piece of the climate puzzle. The symposium followed an ECORD-sponsored summer school program that focused on climate history of the oceans, and which attracted advanced PhD students and post-docs.
“North Atlantic and Arctic [oceans] are key players in global climate,” explained Prof. Dr. Gerold Wefer, director of MARUM and the symposium host. With samples collected by IODP, said Wefer, “we can better understand past and present climate – indispensable basics for predicting climate change.”
Main topics of the symposium covered Millennial-Scale Climate Dynamics, Milankovitch Scale Climate Variability, Evolution of Northern Hemisphere Glaciation, and Extreme Warm Events. In addition to the lectures, about 70 posters were presented, many of them by junior scientists. The participants came from all over the world and represented different research areas. Scientists not only represented those working on samples from IODP program, but there were also scientists with terrestrial, ice, and water samples to present an integrated overview.
JOI Learning, the U.S. drilling program’s national education program is celebrating its third birthday. In addition to adding new features to its web site (a new bulletin board, for example) JOI Learning has invited interested participants to join in an Anniversary Trivia Contest. Each day for 30 days, the site features a question about scientific ocean drilling or Earth science. The best informed site visitors will win daily prizes. The educator who racks up the highest count of correct answers during the month will win a paid registration for a regional education or scientific conference of his/her choice.
Play to win, but check out the site soonTrivia Question 20 appeared on Sept. 24! www.joiscience.org/learning.
After two efficient and fruitful years in Cardiff, UK, the ESSAC office rotates to Aix-en-Provence in France, effective Oct. 1, 2007. The new location will be at CEREGE, and will be led by Gilbert Camoin who takes over the ESSAC chair from Chris MacLeod. The new ESSAC science coordinator is Bonnie Wolff-Boenish, who previously served as Program Manager of the German Priority Program of ICDP.
In coordination with its USIO partners, JOI has prepared a media awareness training guide that provides strategic tips for improved communications with science journalists. The new resource guide is available to scientists who want to polish their media relations technique. See www.joiscience.org/news/resources.
The American Geosciences Union (AGU) Fall Meeting is scheduled for Dec. 10-14, San Francisco. The AGU event has emerged as the world’s largest conference for Earth scientists and IODP enjoys high visibility and attracts lots of new visitors each year. This year the event expands again: the exhibition hall moves to the South Building of the Moscone Center to accommodate more exhibitors and posters.
Look for IODP on the exhibition floor at booths 400-402-404. The booth will feature new information from the NanTroSEIZE expedition currently underway, upcoming USIO and ESO expeditions, and information from Program Member Offices in China and Korea. Save the evening of Dec. 11 to attend the IODP Town Hall Meeting and social event at the Parc 55 Hotel. More details to follow.
Takao Kato, previously at MEXT, joined IODP-MI in July as Senior Advisor to the President. His wife and son also join him in DC. Contact Takao at .
Jamus Collier, currently working on a consulting basis, joins IODP-MI Sapporo October 1 as the new Data Manager. For the last several years, Jamus has worked for the New York City Dept. of Health and Mental Hygiene as a city research scientist. He fills the position Bernard Miville vacated in September. Bernard and family moved to New Zealand where he accepted a new position. Contact Jamus at
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Science Coordinator Nobu Eguchi has departed Sapporo as of Sept. 14 for Yokohama where he joins the CDEX staff and will continue working in IODP.
Senior Advisor Yoichiro Otsuka departed for Japan after three years at IODP-MI. Back in Tokyo, Yoichiro has assumed the position of Deputy Director General for Regional Economic and Industrial Policy in the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). He can be reached at .
Executive Associate Kelly Kryc departed IODP-MI to accept a position at the Moore Foundation in San Francisco, California. She can be reached at
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Program Associate Yuki Yoshioka departed IODP-MI on Sept. 14 and will assume a new position at AESTO on October 11, following nuptials earlier in the month.
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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.
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