The Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) is an international marine research program that explores the Earth's history and structure as recorded in seafloor sediments and rocks, and monitors subseafloor environments. IODP builds upon earlier successes of the Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) and Ocean Drilling Program (ODP), which revolutionized our view of Earth history and global processes through ocean basin exploration. IODP greatly expands the reach of these previous programs by using multiple drilling platforms, including riser, riserless, and mission-specific, to achieve its scientific goals. The program's principal themes are outlined in the Initial Science Plan: "Earth, Oceans and Life: Scientific Investigations of the Earth System Using Multiple Drilling Platforms and New Technologies."

The deep biosphere and the subseafloor ocean;

Environmental change, processes and effects; and

Solid earth cycles and geodynamics.