Applications to sail on IODP expeditions are submitted through the applicant's Program Member Office (PMO). Application requirements may vary by PMO, and they may have different deadlines than those posted below. An individual scientist's PMO is determined by the location of their employer or primary academic affiliation, not by citizenship or adjunct status.
Expedition 400: NW Greenland Glaciated Margin
- JOIDES Resolution Science Operator
- Expedition Dates: August 12 - October 12, 2023
- Application Deadline: June 1, 2022
Now Sailing: South Atlantic Transect (Expedition 390)
Abstract from the Scientific Prospectus: The South Atlantic Transect (SAT) is a multidisciplinary scientific ocean drilling project that comprises two International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) expeditions (390 and 393). These expeditions will recover complete sedimentary sections and the upper ~250 m of the underlying oceanic crust along a slow/intermediate spreading rate Mid-Atlantic Ridge crustal flow line at ~31°S. The sediments along this transect were originally spot cored more than 50 y ago during Deep Sea Drilling Project Leg 3 to help verify the theories of seafloor spreading and plate tectonics. Given dramatic advances in drilling technology and analytical capabilities since Leg 3, many high-priority scientific objectives can be addressed by revisiting the transect. The SAT expeditions will target six primary sites on 7, 15, 31, 49, and 61 Ma ocean crust, which will fill critical gaps in our sampling of intact in situ ocean crust with regards to crustal age, spreading rate, and sediment thickness. These sections are required to investigate the history of the low-temperature hydrothermal interactions between the aging ocean crust and the evolving South Atlantic Ocean and quantify past hydrothermal contributions to global geochemical cycles. The transect traverses the previously unexplored sediment- and basalt-hosted deep biosphere beneath the South Atlantic Gyre from which samples are essential to refine global biomass estimates and investigate microbial ecosystems’ responses to variable conditions in a low-energy gyre and aging ocean crust. The drilling operations will include installation of reentry cones and casing to establish legacy boreholes for future basement hydrothermal and microbiological experiments. The transect is also located near World Ocean Circulation Experiment Line A10, providing access to records of carbonate chemistry and deepwater mass properties across the western South Atlantic through key Cenozoic intervals of elevated atmospheric CO2 and rapid climate change. Reconstruction of the history of the deep western boundary current and deepwater formation in the Atlantic basins will yield crucial data to test hypotheses regarding the role of evolving thermohaline circulation patterns in climate change and the effects of tectonic gateways and climate on ocean acidification.
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As approved by the JRFB in May 2020. |
International Ocean Discovery Program (2013- )
(last update November 2021)
JOIDES Resolution (through 396) |
Chikyu (through 380) |
Mission-Specific Platforms (through 381) |
Program Total | |
Expeditions Completed | 34 | 4 | 4 | 42 |
Sites Visited | 155 | 6 | 28 | 189 |
Holes Drilled | 445 | 19 | 80 | 544 |
Cores Recovered | 11,112 | 204 | 929 | 12,245 |
Deepest Hole Penetrated (m) | 1,806 | 1,180 | 1,335 | 1,806 |
Shallowest Water Depth (m) | 98 | 1,939 | 20 | 20 |
Deepest Water Depth (m) | 5,023 | 4,776 | 8,023 | 8,023 |
Core Recovery (m) | 62,927 | 1,092 | 3,374 | 67,393 |
Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (2003-2013)
JOIDES Resolution | Chikyu | Mission-Specific Platforms | Program Total | |
Expeditions Completed | 35 | 14 | 5 | 54 |
Sites Visited | 145 | 38 | 67 | 250 |
Holes Drilled | 439 | 95 | 115 | 649 |
Cores Recovered | 8,491 | 927 | 2,676 | 12,094 |
Deepest Hole Penetrated (m) | 1,928 | 3,059 | 755 | 3,059 |
Shallowest Water Depth (m) | 95.5 | 885 | 23 | 23 |
Deepest Water Depth (m) | 5,708 | 6,929 | 1.288 | 6,929 |
Core Recovery (m) | 57,289 | 4,886 | 4,131 | 66,306 |
Ocean Drilling Program (1985-2003)
JOIDES Resolution | |
Expeditions Completed | 111 |
Sites Visited | 669 |
Holes Drilled | 1,797 |
Cores Recovered | 35,772 |
Deepest Hole Penetrated (m) | 2,111 |
Shallowest Water Depth (m) | 37.5 |
Deepest Water Depth (m) | 5,980 |
Core Recovery (m) | 222,704 |
Deep Sea Drilling Project (1968-1983)
Glomar Challenger | |
Expeditions Completed | 96 |
Sites Visited | 624 |
Holes Drilled | 1,053 |
Cores Recovered | 19,119 |
Deepest Hole Penetrated (m) | 1,741 |
Deepest Water Depth (m) | 7,044 |
Core Recovery (m) | 97,056 |
Below is a sample of recent articles featuring IODP expeditions, samples, data, or related research. Please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to request to post an article on this page. Journalists and communication professionals are encouraged to speak with the program's Media Contacts for photos or others resources.
- Stretching of the Continents Drove Ancient Global Warming Event, Phys.org
- An Ambitious Vision for the Future of Scientific Ocean Drilling, Eos
- Research Leads to Deeper Understanding of Ocean Currents, NSF Research News
- India's Monsoon is Unique - It's an Enormous Movement of Water and Energy Across Earth, The Times of India
- Million-Year Study Shows Warming Will Make Indian Monsoons More Extreme Says Geoscientist Kaustubh Thirumalai, The Times of India
- A Million Years of Data Confirms: Monsoons Are Likely to Get Worse, New York Times
- Science Drill Ship Sets Depth Record Off Japan, BBC
- Climate Change: A Small Green Rock's Warning About Our Future, BBC
- How an Ill-fated Undersea Adventure in the 1960s Changed the Way Scientists see the Earth, Vox
- Tracking Past Earthquakes Along the Japan Trench, EurekaAlert (AAAS)
- 100 Million Year Old Seafloor Sediment Bacteria Have Been Resuscitated, Scientific American
- Space dust found in Chicxulub crater confirms asteroid’s dinosaur-killing role, Imperial College London
- Tracking Arctic climate change from a Greenhouse to an Icehouse world, EurekaAlert (AAAS)
- Scientists solve a major climate mystery, Space.com
- Paleoclimate puzzle explained by seasonal variation, Nature
- Will warming bring a change in the winds? Dust from the deep sea provides a clue, NSF Research News
- Life in the Chicxulub Crater years after it was formed, AGU Advances
- How hot is too hot for life deep below the ocean floor? EurekaAlert (AAAS)
- Microbial diversity below seafloor is as rich as on Earth's surface, URI Today
- The mission to drill through Earth's crust, CNN World
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