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Ocean Drilling Program
Description
 The Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) began October 1, 2003 and is co-led by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sport, Science and Technology (MEXT) of Japan. It will use cores of sediment and crustal rock from the oceans to study geologic and tectonic processes that modify our planet; the history of changes in the oceans and climate; and the extent and depth of the planet’s biosphere. Although MEXT and NSF will provide the primary scientific facilities for the IODP, significant scientific and financial participation is also provided by a consortium of European nations (ECORD), and China. The IODP will have an initial duration of 10 years.
Based on the continuing requirement for ocean drilling, over 600 ocean and earth scientists, led by U.S. and Japanese participants, have completed an internationally coordinated planning effort to examine the scientific objectives for the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program. Their efforts have resulted in the publication of the IODP science plan – Earth, Oceans and Life: Scientific Investigations of the Earth System Using Multiple Drilling Platforms and New Technologies (http://www.iodp.org/isp.html). The plan identifies the following three scientific foci for initial emphasis in IODP:
The Deep Biosphere and the Sub-seafloor Ocean: Drilling will concentrate on expanding our understanding of the architecture and dynamics of the vast subseafloor plumbing system, where flowing water alters rock, modifies the long-term chemistry of the oceans, lubricates seismically active faults, concentrates economic mineral deposits, and controls the distribution of the deep biosphere.
The Processes and Effects of Environmental Change: Ocean sediments provide a unique record of Earth’s climate fluctuations and permit detection of climate signals on three time scales: tectonic (longer than 0.5 million years, and produced by changes in continent positions and continental seaways); orbital (20 thousand years to 400 thousand years, and produced by changes in the earth’s orbit); and oceanic (hundreds to a few thousand years, and produced by changes in ocean circulation). Using a global array of sites, these sediment records will allow a sophisticated and detailed analysis of the causes, rates and severity of changes in the Earth’s climate system and their relation to major pulses in biologic evolution.
Solid Earth Cycles and Geodynamics: The rates of mass and energy transfer from the mantle to the crust and back are not constant through time and the causes of these variations and their influences on the global environment are poorly understood. Drilling during the early phases of IODP will concentrate on sampling and monitoring regions of the seafloor that currently have the highest rates of energy and mass transfer, and comparing these results to older geologic settings. A crucial initial program of deep drilling will be to study the seismogenic zone responsible for large destructive earthquakes along active plate boundaries.
Target Dates and Deadlines
Proposals due 15 August and 15 February.
Program Contact(s)
Rodey Batiza
Program Director
Phone: 703.292.7710
Fax: 703.292.9085
Email: rbatiza@nsf.gov
Jamie Allan
Program Director
Phone: 703.292.8581
Fax: 703.292.9085
Email: jallan@nsf.gov
Carolyn Ruppel
Associate Program Director
Phone: 703.292.8581
Fax: 703.292.9085
Email: cruppel@nsf.gov
John Walter
Associate Program Director
Phone: 703.292.8581
Fax: 703.292.9085
Email: jwalter@nsf.gov
Laura Snow
Science Assistant
Phone: 703.292.8581
Fax: 703.292.9085
Email: lsnow@nsf.gov
Nomikka Hunter
ProgramAssistant
Phone: 703.292.8581
Fax: 703.292.9085
Email: nhunter@nsf.gov
Please see additional program information.
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Division of Ocean Sciences,
NSF