Scientists have developed a new way of determining the size and frequency of meteorites that have collided with Earth.

Their work shows that the size of the meteorite that likely plummeted to Earth at the time of the Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) boundary 65 million years ago was four to six kilometers in diameter. The meteorite was the trigger, scientists believe, for the mass extinction of dinosaurs and other life forms.

WASHINGTON – Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the National Integrated Coastal and Ocean Observing Act of 2007. The Act would create an integrated ocean observing system (IOOS) that will monitor and forecast ocean conditions, including the physical, biological and chemical components of coastal waters.  The Act would also increase understanding of complex deep ocean and coastal environments and promote the dissemination of information to local policymakers and the public.

The OOI Project Team developed a comprehensive suite of design and management documents for the Preliminary Design Review (PDR) of the Ocean Observatories Initiative, conducted for the National Science Foundation.

These documents, various presentations made throughout PDR, and additional supporting and background documents can be downloaded here.

April 03, 2008 Message from IODP-MI - Industry-Sponsored Drilling Program Could Emerge from New Consortium

The new and improved JOIDES Resolution continues undergoing a complete refurbishment in a Singapore shipyard.

Today the Joint Ocean Commission Initiative (JOCI) released its 2007 U.S. Ocean Policy Report Card, its third annual look at the country’s ocean strategy from the previous year.  The report card is a bipartisan look at the nation’s progress toward implementing the recommendations of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy and the Pew Oceans Commission, as well as the actions described in the Administration’s U.S. Ocean Action Plan. The Consortium for Ocean Leadership agrees with the general assessment of the report card that the U.S. has not made substantial progress and needs to be more diligent in the search for solutions to protect and restore our oceans.

At the 2008 Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Boston, the Consortium for Ocean Leadership is convening two scientific symposia. The symposia both relate recent results from paleoclimate investigations of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) to modern systems.

Ocean Leadership Symposia:

The Consortium for Ocean Leadership applauds Hawaii Congressman Neil Abercrombie (D-1st) for introducing the National Marine Mammal Research Program Act of 2008 (H.R.5106).  The bill will create a national marine mammal research program to be administered by the Marine Mammal Commission.  Implementation of this research program will greatly improve our understanding of marine mammals, especially the impact sound has on these animals.  

The Consortium for Ocean Leadership, in coordination with the U.S. National Committee of the Census of Marine Life (CoML) organized a workshop to demonstrate the importance of incorporating biological data, particularly CoML data, into the Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS). The workshop brought together more than 80 experts from academia and management agencies to share information with regard to four central objectives:

·        Explore the general types of biological observing data, and identify specific data sets that should be integrated into IOOS;

The Census of Marine Life (CoML) came in #4 on Time Magazine’s 2007 Top 10 Scientific Discoveries.  CoML is a program managed by the Consortium for Ocean Leadership.  CoML is a growing global network of researchers in about 80 nations engaged in a 10-year initiative to assess and explain the diversity, distribution and abundance of marine life in the world’s oceans - past, present and future.

WASHINGTON - The Board of Trustees for the Consortium for Ocean Leadership (Ocean Leadership) announced that Dr. Robert Gagosian has accepted the position of President and CEO. Gagosian becomes the first President of Ocean Leadership, which was formed earlier this year by the merger of the Consortium for Oceanographic Research and Education (CORE) and the Joint Oceanographic Institutions (JOI).

“I am honored to be appointed as the first president of Ocean Leadership,” said Bob Gagosian. “This new consortium brings exciting new opportunities. I am looking forward to working with the ocean community to fulfill our education and research missions.”

PRESS STATEMENT

On behalf of the 95 members of the Consortium for Oceanographic Research and Education (CORE), I strongly support United States accession to the international Convention on the Law of the Sea and encourage the U.S. Senate to ratify the Convention which has been long overdue.

Joining the Law of the Sea will promote U.S. economic, environmental and national security interests through freedom of navigation for military vessels, ocean-related commerce, and conservation of vital marine resources. Accession to the Convention will also give the U.S., the world’s leading maritime nation, an important seat at the table during global ocean-related negotiations.

WASHINGTON –The Joint Oceanographic Institutions (JOI) has awarded a $97.7 million contract to an academic partnership led by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), to support the development, installation and initial operation of the coastal and global components of the National Science Foundation’s Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI).  The WHOI partnership includes Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, and Oregon State University’s College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences. This award completes the management team to construct and implement the $331.1 million OOI Network.

New research to test global ice volume approximately 41.6 million years ago shows that ice caps at this time, if they existed at all, would have been small and easily accommodated on Antarctica.

COLLEGE STATION, TX – Touring the 14,000 square-foot facility, refrigerated to 40° F, generated “oohs,” “aahs” and “brrrs” from the nation-wide group of middle school, high school and undergraduate educators. Seventeen educators from across the country were selected in a competitive application process to participate in “School of Rock 2007.”

The Integrated Ocean Drilling Program's (IODP) Gulf Coast Repository houses over 100 kilometers of seafloor cores from the Pacific Ocean, the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico, and the Southern Ocean.

A new research project related to ocean observing system (OOS) workforce issues has recently been launched. “Understanding and Predicting Changes in the Ocean Science, Technology and Operations Workforce,” funded by NOPP, is an initial 2-year effort to: (1) develop an improved assessment of the ocean science, technology, and operations workforce; (2) anticipate future requirements for this workforce; and (3) identify the educational processes needed to help develop this workforce. A main focus of the project will be the OOS workforce.

• More information about the OOS Workforce Project

WASHINGTON - The Consortium for Oceanographic Research and Education (CORE) and the Joint Oceanographic Institutions (JOI) announced today that they have agreed to merge their staff and operations.

The consolidated organization, to be called the Consortium for Ocean Leadership, will have a staff of more than 60 scientists, educators, program managers and policy experts. The Board of Trustees and officers for the new organization was formally elected yesterday. CORE and JOI will continue to work under separate business lines within the new organization prior to the public launch of the new organization which is expected early next year.

WASHINGTON –Joint Oceanographic Institutions (JOI), a consortium of leading U.S. oceanographic research institutions, has awarded multimillion dollar contracts to the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and the University of Washington (UW) to support the development and operations for the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI). The OOI is a U.S. National Science Foundation investment to advance scientific understanding of the oceans, transforming research by establishing a network of interactive, globally distributed sensors in the ocean.

PRESS STATEMENT

On behalf of the 94 members of the Consortium for Oceanographic Research and Education (CORE), I applaud President Bush for supporting the United States accession to the international Convention on the Law of the Sea. CORE encourages the U.S. Senate to act promptly to provide its advice and consent for the U.S. to join this important convention that governs many of the activities impacting our Earth’s oceans.

U.S. accession is long overdue and Senate approval will pave the way for us to unite with more than 150 nations that have already acceded to the Convention. The Law of the Sea went into effect in 1994 but the U.S. is the only industrialized nation that is not a signatory.