Program Update: Integrated Ocean Drilling Program – October 2011
Filed under: Discovery,News & Resources,Program Updates,Program Updates - Integrated Ocean Drilling Program,Scientific Ocean Drilling
The National Research Council published its report “Scientific Ocean Drilling: Accomplishments and Challenges” in October. The report highlights major scientific accomplishments of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) and its predecessors, and concludes that these programs have contributed significantly to the advancement of the earth sciences. In addition, the new Science Plan for the International Ocean Discovery Program, “Illuminating Earth’s Past, Present, and Future,” was reviewed. The report declares the four research themes identified in the plan to be salient and compelling, and recommends that the scientific ocean drilling community establish a mechanism to prioritize the science. The report is available online from the National Academies Press.
Scientists continued their work on IODP Expedition 336: Mid-Atlantic Microbiology onboard the JOIDES Resolution. During this month of the expedition, the team successfully installed a CORK observatory in a 210-m deep hole. The hole is now equipped with an instrument string comprising six fluid samplers, an oxygen probe with data recorder, and temperature sensors. The expedition continues until November 17. Read daily and weekly summaries of the expedition online.
Also during October, calls for applications to sail for two new expeditions aboard the Chikyu were announced – IODP Expeditions 343: Japan Trench Fast Drilling Project (JFAST) (April – May 2012) and Expedition 338: NanTroSEIZE Plate Boundary Deep Riser 2 (September 2012 – January 2013). Scientific participants on the JFAST expedition will seek to collect data and cores from the fault zone of the Tohoku Earthquake in order to address fundamental questions regarding stress, fluid flow, and the structural mechanics of the rupture zone. The deadline to apply to sail on this expedition is November 20, 2011. Scientific participants onboard Expedition 338 will seek to sample the deep interior of the midslope region beneath the Kumano forearc basin off the coast of Japan. The deadline to apply to sail on this expedition is January 3, 2012.
