From the President's Office - 10/15/07
Filed under: From The President's Office
Readers of Nature were surprised by the journal’s statement that the JOIDES Resolution has been languishing in a shipyard since fall 2003, despite 10 successful expeditions since then, the outcomes of which have been chronicled in Science, The New York Times, Scientific American, NewScientist and others. My letter addressing this inaccuracy is published in the 4 October 2007 issue of Nature.
So what is happening?
Scientific
Ocean Drilling Vessel: The shipyard continues making progress
modernizing the ship. Demolition is complete; new steel decks and
bulkheadsneeded for accommodations are being fitted; and steel work on
the newdeckhouse is nearing completion. Re-delivery of the JOIDES Resolution
is anticipated in Spring 2008. Following science equipment installation
and testing, sea trials and transit, the first expedition is planned
for late Spring/Summer 2008. Complete information regarding updates to
the ship can be found here. [NOTE: An Oct. 22, 2007 update on the JOIDES Resolution is online here]
U.S.
Implementing Organization for IODP: The IODP Lead Agencies and
EMA/ECORD have approved the program plan for 2008. The plan includes a
full complement of services in 2008 expeditions. However, in order to
proceed with a program plan for 2009 without major disruptions –
scaling back expeditions, staff, services – USIO will need to schedule
work that is not paid for via the NSF contract. NSF has stated that
they will release the JOIDES Resolution from the drilling
program for an average of four months per year in 2009 and beyond.
Currently the USIO is pursuing work with petroleum companies and other
science agencies to develop projects that we hope will lead to industry
and academic partnerships. We are in the earliest stages of discussions
with potential partners.
U.S. Science Support Program for
Scientific Ocean Drilling: USSSP has started working under a new
cooperative agreement with NSF. Staffing and planning are complete for
upcoming NanTroSEIZE expeditions on the Chikyu,the first of which began on 21 September 2007. USSSP is now planning for the first few expeditions on the upgraded JOIDES Resolution,
including the Equatorial Pacific expedition tentatively scheduled for
mid-May 2008, and the Bering Sea expedition scheduled to begin in July
2008.
USSSP will continue to fund community workshops and the
next deadline for proposals has been extended beyond the 1 October
deadline for three weeks.Proposed workshops should promote the
development of new ideas to study Earth processes and history using
scientific ocean drilling. See here for proposal information.
The U.S. Advisory Committee for Scientific Ocean Drilling has selected six Distinguished Lecturer Series
speakers for 2008-2009. They are Mark Pagani (Yale University), Glenn
Spinelli (New Mexico Tech), Adam Kent (Oregon State University), Debbie
Thomas (Texas A&M University), Adina Paytan (University of
California, Santa Cruz), and Hubert Staudigel (Scripps Institution of
Oceanography).
Ocean Observing: JOI has submitted the science
prospectus to NSF in preparation for a blue-ribbon panel review of the
science that will be addressed with the Ocean Observatories Initiative
facility. A critical feature of the prospectus is the traceability
matrix that matches large scientific objectives with specific kinds of
infrastructure and traces the objectives through the system to specific
suites of sensors in specific locations. From these, the detailed
system requirements have been developed. Following the review in late
October, these materials will be released to the community.
The
preliminary design review for the OOI facility will take place the week
before the fall AGU meeting, and JOI has been focused on the
preparation of a large number of documents required to demonstrate
readiness for construction. Project execution plans, cost books, risk
registers, resource-loaded schedules, critical path calculations and
systems management plans are not part of the every day experience of
most research scientists. However they are essential parts of effective
systems management and required before construction can begin. Suffice
it to say that the systems engineers at JOI and the implementing
organizations led by UCSD, UW and Woods Hole have been burning the
midnight oil to be prepared for this review.
Those are the
essentials. There is a lot happening here, and I will continue to do
what I can to keep you all in the loop. Hope to see you at AGU in
December – Town Hall meetings are currently being planned for ODP and
OOI,and program managers will be onsite at the new Consortium for Ocean
Leadership booth. More details will be forthcoming soon. Stay tuned!
Best regards,
Steve
Steve Bohlen
President, Joint Oceanographic Institutions
Archived Messages from the President's Office:
Facing Challenging Times - July 2007
Challenging Times Ahead - March 2007
