Minister Noel Dempsey, T.D., Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, will announce Ireland’s participation in the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP), an international marine research program dedicated to advancing scientific understanding of the Earth through seafloor drilling and coring, and establishment of long-term borehole observatories.

Scientists, technicians, and drillers with the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program have recovered rocks from 1415.5 meters (>4644 feet) below the seafloor that will provide valuable information on the composition of the Earth.

Research on cores recovered by the Ocean Drilling Program show that the activity of microbial life beneath the seafloor is far more diverse than expected, scientists report in the December 24 issue of Science.

Scientists from around the globe will present more than 200 papers (PDF: 1.4MB) with new discoveries made possible through scientific ocean drilling at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting in San Francisco from December 13-17, 2004.

The JOIDES Resolution, a scientific drilling vessel, docked in Ponta Delgada (Azores) today after spending nearly two months at sea obtaining cores to investigate North Atlantic climate change over the last few million years.

Scientists who conduct research using data from the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) and its predecessor, the Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP), will present more than 20 talks and posters during the Geological Society of America’s Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado from November 7-10, 2004.

Washington D.C. – After completing the first expedition of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, scientists onboard the drillship JOIDES Resolution retrieved data and samples that have been stored beneath the seafloor for several years.

Astoria, OR – The inaugural voyage of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP), the largest international scientific research program of its kind, returns to port after a successful 60-day expedition at sea. At the Juan de Fuca Ridge, 200 km off the coast of British Columbia, IODP expedition 301 conducted a challenging series of studies to evaluate how fluid flows within the oceanic crust.

Florence, Italy – The Joint Oceanographic Institutions’ Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) and its results are to be highlighted in over 100 scientific abstracts at the 32nd International Geological Congress August 20-28, 2004.

[ August 6, 2004; ] Integrated Ocean Drilling Program’s Arctic Coring Expedition (ACEX) will collect the world’s first complete climate record from beneath the Arctic Ocean.

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.

Washington D.C. – The 1201 Group LLC, a partnership of the Joint Oceanographic Institutions (JOI) and the Consortium for Ocean Research and Education (CORE), has been selected to manage the Ocean Research Interactive Observatory Networks (ORION) Project Office.