From the President’s Office – 3/16/07
Filed under: From The President's Office
Challenging Times Ahead – What’s going on?
Observers and participants of the programs JOI manages have been hearing a lot of talk recently, but unfortunately not much by way of solid, specific details telling the whole story. A rumor of budget cuts in IODP, reductions in scope of the JOI’s facilities construction efforts for NSF, shifting responsibilities of senior JOI staff, and virtual silence about progress toward a new U.S. drill ship for IODP. What is going on? This message is an attempt to bring the community up to date and to give some perspective on the challenges ahead.
Business and Political Environments: Challenges that Impact Everything We Do
The Division of Ocean Sciences at NSF faces a difficult position with respect to the balance between research grants and the costs of infrastructure – the drill ship, seismic vessel, UNOLS vessels, and ocean observatories. This is the result of dramatic increases in ship operations and maintenance costs, the business environment for ocean activities and slow growth of the NSF budget. NSF has committed to curbing the continued erosion of the success rate of individual research grants by firmly managing a balance between research grants and the infrastructure operations and maintenance (O&M) costs that support them. This approach, developed over the summer, has significant direct impacts on the programs and facilities JOI manages on behalf of the oceans research community.
What Does This Mean For: Scientific Ocean Drilling Vessel for IODP
Good news: NSF made the decision to use the JOIDES Resolution and its existing hull size as the basis for a complete overhaul and enhancement that will produce the new U.S. drilling vessel for IODP. The IODP-U.S. Implementing Organization, in close cooperation with the ship owner, has worked to redesign laboratory and sleeping and living spaces so that all of the objectives of the science community outlined in the Conceptual Design Committee (CDC) report will be met within the prescribed budget. We negotiated the conversion of additional hold spaces to living and science space, providing nearly all of what we wanted in initial design plans. Laboratory space will increase by 34% and has been designed for greater efficiency and effectiveness in handling cores and workflow. We will have 16 more berths than in the original JR, all staterooms will be double occupancy, and the galley has been moved above the waterline. Ship stability will be enhanced as will drilling capabilities.
Conversion work has been progressing at a shipyard in Singapore. The drilling equipment has been removed for refurbishment and upgrading. The laboratory stack has been removed and sold for living quarters in Thailand. In all aspects, the ship is being prepared for dry dock and conversion.
Bad news: You may recall initial plans were to add a section to the ship, stretching it by 30 feet, which could have led to even more berths and lab space. As we heard at AGU, the “stretch” is no longer an option due to budget restraints. The business environment in which we are operating is as hostile as experienced hands have ever witnessed. Shipyards are able to demand a premium for all aspects of their work and time in the yard as drilling companies worldwide compete for scarce shipyard capacity. The global drilling companies are willing to pay whatever it costs, placing us at a distinct disadvantage. We are therefore facing severe budget and schedule challenges, the resolution of which are not clear, but should be soon. Stay tuned.
Ocean Observatories Initiative
Good news: Funding to build a research-driven ocean observatory was included in the Continuing Resolution for FY 07 passed by the Congress in February and is also in the President’s budget request to the Congress for FY 08. The Observatory Advisory Committees have worked effectively and diligently to prepare a conceptual design that to a first order meets the NSF limit for operations and maintenance (O&M), though further design work and costing will be necessary. The program office has added a cyberinfrastructure engineer, and JOI is close to making an award for an implementing organization for a series of nodes to be located in the Pacific Northwest. The process for the selection of additional implementing organizations is ongoing. All efforts now are focused on the development work and documentation necessary for the preliminary design review scheduled for December.
Bad news: The Ocean Observatories Initiative was given an O&M ceiling that necessitated a redesign and reduction in scope of the system. We are working within that redesign. At the moment, there really is not any bad news. Yes, the observatory will be smaller than envisioned, and we are concerned that further design and costing work will require some further strategic focusing of assets. Our greatest concern is suffering a repeat of the challenges faced by the drill ship as the telecommunications industry awakens from a prolonged slump. Stay tuned.
IODP
Good news: Plans are progressing for the full incarnation of IODP as a three-platform ocean drilling program beginning calendar year 2008. The Science Planning Committee has forwarded an ambitious list of drilling programs for scheduling and approval. Proposal pressure continues as the program strives to meet the vision laid out in the Initial Science Plan. Science outcomes from expeditions completed under Phase 1 of the program have repeatedly garnered the attention of the science press with advances in our understanding of sea level and climate history, gas hydrates, deep biosphere and the structure of ocean crust.
Bad news: We face severely constrained budgets for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 08) in IODP. Increases in operations and maintenance costs for drilling platforms have been particularly severe, driven fundamentally by the cost of oil and the numerous other derivative cost increases. Japan has indicted that the Chikyu will conduct scientific drilling for less than a full year; the U.S. may be in a similar situation. The USIO is now assessing the financial demands of the high priority expeditions. We are looking carefully at our costs and developing scenarios for science services. At the moment we do not have a clear picture of our FY 08 program plan. What is clear is the program from FY 08 through FY 2013 will be quite different from the one envisioned when the Initial Science Plan was adopted. The future vision of the program will be the subject of a meeting of IODP leaders in Japan the end of March. Stay tuned.
Decades of Context Surrounding Current Challenges
As plans for IODP began to take shape 15 years ago, NSF Division of Ocean Sciences prioritized additional infrastructure to support emerging research directions. NSF began to place greater emphasis on large-scale research facilities in all areas of science and educated the Executive and Legislative branches of the federal government about the need for such large infrastructure. At the time, NSF envisioned these new facilities would drive increases in science budgets to support them.
Authorization legislation (though not Appropriation legislation) passed supporting a doubling of NSF’s budget in the late ‘90s created a heady time during which NSF Ocean Sciences (OCE) laid detailed plans for a new US drill ship for scientific ocean drilling, a new seismic vessel, new UNOLS vessels of a range of sizes, and new facilities for observing the ocean 24/7. Success in advancing these new initiatives led to OCE having three major facilities (MREFC) – the scientific ocean drilling vessel (SODV), the Alaskan Arctic Research Vessel (AARV), and the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) – at or near the top of NSF priorities. Additionally, commitments were made to build three mid-sized UNOLS vessels and to outfit a new seismic ship for 3-D seismic imaging. All of these initiatives have been included in the Federal budget and the Congress has funded most of them in recent years.
Despite this success, these forward-looking plans have not fared well after a collision with reality. NSF’s budget has not kept pace with inflation, let alone doubled. This, combined with the increased price of oil and attendant increases in costs of everything having to do with ships and ship building leaves NSF, JOI and the research community in a paradoxical position at the moment.
We need, and have successfully argued for, new infrastructure to advance our science. However, in this austere funding climate, we do not have sufficient resources to accomplish all that was envisioned. Funds to pay for research of the new facilities must come from existing research budgets, following a rationale that if the facilities are designed to transform the science, then the transformative science will take priority.
The Future at JOI: Personnel Shifts and a New Corporation
I’ve heard recently from a number of community members that the challenges with the drill ship and drilling program suggests that JOI is not interested in ocean drilling and is focused on ocean observing instead. Some of you also question if the merger of JOI and CORE is driven by this observing focus. Nothing could be further from the truth.
All of what we do is focused on providing the oceans community with effective leadership and management of community programs. The merger of JOI and CORE into a new, yet-to-be-named corporation will bring the community together within one organization and will consolidate efforts in program management, systems engineering, education, outreach, public awareness and advocacy. This is an important step for the community will take place later this year, and I have been and continue to be very supportive of making this happen.
JOI staff has been reassigned to meet community objectives. In ocean observing, we have accommodated Kendra Daly’s return to research and retained the talents of a very experienced and skilled program director, Holly Given, who was in need of new challenges. Furthermore, we are fortunate to have Cathy O’Riordan take Holly’s place in leading the US Science Support Program. Cathy’s experience in working with the science community at AGU and managing various programs bode well for continued progress in objectives with the Support Program.
What can you do?
Given the challenges, a logical question is, “What can you do?” First, your continued input and suggestions are important. Over 220 community members help us on various advisory committees. This support is vital to our decision-making in how we manage community programs.
Beyond this there are some specific steps I hope you will take. We need you to indicate to the leaders of your organizations the value of these programs so that they in turn will see our programs as a clear priority for your institution and hence help guide the advocacy agenda of your institution in dealing with the Executive and Legislative Branches of the Federal government. Tell NSF leadership, the Director, Geosciences Directorate and Ocean Science Division, that these programs are vital to advancing your science. Help us get the word out about the value of the science you do via our education and communications activities. Let us know where and when we can help you in this regard – publicizing upcoming papers in Nature and Science, for example, with news releases and other media contacts. Most importantly, do not underestimate the importance of your voices in affecting what happens here in DC. Please speak with your elected representatives about the value of your science to the country and how the community programs we manage are vital to continued progress in understanding Earth and its oceans. We would be happy to help you prepare for such visits.
I would be disingenuous not to admit that we are amidst very challenging times. We can look forward to new infrastructure to support the research of the next two decades. In getting there, we face some serious problems. Our promise is as it always has been, providing the community with creative and effective leadership to support your hopes and dreams for research.
As always, I appreciate your thoughts and comments.
Best regards,
Steve
Steve Bohlen President, Joint Oceanographic Institutions
