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Astoria, OR - The Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP), an international scientific research program designed to contribute fundamental scientific knowledge to the topics of climate change, geologic hazards, energy resources, and Earth's environment, will depart Astoria Oregon, June 28, 2004, for the first leg of its six planned expeditions.

At Juan de Fuca Ridge, off the coast of British Columbia, the first IODP expedition will undertake hydrologic, microbiological, seismic and tracer studies to evaluate fluid flow within the oceanic crust. Using the JOIDES Resolution, a "floating university," scientists will set up an ocean observatory to study water flow in the upper oceanic crust (http://iodp.tamu.edu/publicinfo/drillship.html). Andrew Fisher, co-chief scientist and professor of Earth sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz, along with Tetsuro Urabe of the University of Tokyo, will lead almost 50 scientists and technicians in this leg of IODP's quest to provide invaluable information about Earth's history.

Through the National Science Foundation, the United States will provide a riserless drilling platform for IODP scientific research. Each IODP research expedition will obtain data that relate to important scientific issues affecting society today. The first six IODP expeditions will obtain core samples from the Pacific, Atlantic, and Arctic ocean floors (http://iodp.tamu.edu/scienceops/index.html). These samples will provide information on past changes in climate that could help to refine models and predictions of current and future climate change; microbes living beneath the sea; and plate tectonic processes that are the driving force responsible for some of this planet's largest earthquakes.

Led by the United States and Japan, the number of contributing countries (currently 14) continues to grow. IODP will expand the reach of ocean drilling research through its use of multiple drilling vessels. A riser vessel, Chikyu, supplied and operated by Japan, will allow for long-term expeditions lasting up to a year in a single location. Mission-specific platforms, operated by the European Consortium for Ocean Research Drilling, will be used to study ice-covered regions never before sampled.

IODP is an international partnership of scientists and research institutions organized to explore the history and structure of the Earth. The JOI Alliance, JOI's partnership with Texas A&M University and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, manages activities associated with the U.S. Implementing Organization and the riserless vessel for the program.

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