Scientific Drilling Vessel Returns to Work After Major Overhaul – JOIDES Resolution Currently on Expedition in Pacific
Filed under: Discovery,News & Resources,Press Releases,Scientific Ocean Drilling
Hawaii will soon welcome the "JR" into port. Credit: Jill Karsten, NSF
(Washington, DC) – The JOIDES Resolution (JR) has returned to international operations and will make its scheduled Port Call in Honolulu, Hawaii May 5-9, 2009. An international team of scientists will have completed the first of two eight-week Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) expeditions to the Equatorial Pacific studying major changes in the global climate system through seafloor sediments. After more than two years of refurbishing and $115 million dollars the JR has impressive new capabilities that include a refurbished sub-sea camera system, improved core handling capability, and new ergonomic core description stations and software, among others.
The National Science Foundation, the University of Hawaii at Manoa’s School of Ocean & Earth Sciences & Technology and the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program-US Implementing Organization will welcome guests on Wednesday, May 6th at 9:30am at Pier 2 of the Honolulu Harbor for welcome remarks and a tour of the refurbished ship.
“The Resolution carries science teams whose research will help us better understand Earth’s current climate and its ancient sea levels,” said Dr. Arden Bement, director of the National Science Foundation. “This research will help resolve the puzzles of continental drift, volcano formation, and the onset of earthquakes.”
Twelve expeditions were conducted during the first phase of IODP drilling operations from 2004-2006. Ten of those expeditions were conducted aboard the JOIDES Resolution, the U.S.-sponsored riserless drilling vessel, managed by the U.S. Implementing Organization.
“I am very proud and excited to see the JOIDES Resolution back in action – providing the world’s science community with unique information that is essential for both unlocking the evolution of our planet as well as providing the framework for understanding our future changing climate,” said Dr. Robert Gagosian, President and CEO of the Consortium for Ocean Leadership.
“Having twice sailed as co-chief scientist, I am especially pleased to see the laboratory upgrades, improvements to living quarters and return to operations of this amazing educational asset,” said Dr. Brian Taylor, Dean of SOEST.”
IODP is an international marine research program dedicated to advancing scientific understanding of the Earth through drilling, coring, and monitoring the subseafloor. The program operates three drilling platforms: Chikyu, a riser-equipped vessel provided by Japan; the JOIDES Resolution, the newly refurbished research vessel provided by the United States; and mission-specific drilling platforms managed by ECORD (see above for upcoming expedition information). During the first week of May 2009, all three platforms will be conducting investigations. The Chikyu will disembark from Shingu port in Japan to re-engage in the Nankai Trough Seismogenic Experiment (NanTroSEIZE), a multi-expedition drilling project focused on drilling and logging measurements in an earthquake-generating zone. The JOIDES Resolution will continue the Pacific Equatorial Age Transect Expedition, sampling Pacific Ocean sediments and studying circulation and the transition from warmer climates that existed 15-50 million years ago to today’s conditions of bipolar ice caps.
For more information about the JOIDES Resolution log on to
For more information about the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program log on to www.iodp.org.
