International Ocean Discovery Program

(IODP may also refer to the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program)

The International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) is an international marine research collaboration dedicated to advancing scientific understanding of the Earth through drilling, coring, and monitoring the subseafloor. The research enabled by IODP samples and data improves scientific understanding of changing climate and ocean conditions, the origins of ancient life, risks posed by geohazards, and the structure and processes of Earth’s tectonic plates and uppermost mantle. IODP began in 2013 and builds on the research of four previous scientific ocean drilling programs: Project Mohole, Deep Sea Drilling Project, Ocean Drilling Program, and Integrated Ocean Drilling Program.[1][2] Together, these programs represent the longest running and most successful international Earth science collaboration.[3][4]

Scientific scope

The scientific scope of IODP is laid out in the program's science plan, Illuminating Earth's Past, Present, and Future. The science plan covers a 10-year period of operations and consists of a list of scientific challenges that are organized into four themes called Climate and Ocean Change, Biosphere Frontiers, Earth Connections, and Earth in Motion.[5][6] The science plan was developed by the international scientific community to identify the highest priority science for the program.[7][8]

IODP funding and operations

IODP uses multiple drilling platforms (JOIDES Resolution, Chikyu, and mission-specific platforms) to access different subseafloor environments during research expeditions. These facilities are funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), and the European Consortium for Ocean Research Drilling (ECORD), alongside the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China (MOST), Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM), Australian-New Zealand IODP Consortium (ANZIC), India Ministry of Earth Science (MoES), and Brazil’s Coordination for Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES). Together, these entities represent a coalition of 26 countries. The IODP funding model differs from the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program in that NSF, MEXT, and ECORD each manage their own drilling platform. International partners directly contribute to the operating costs of the drilling platforms in exchange for scientific participation on the expeditions and seats on the advisory panels.[9][10]

IODP expeditions are based on research proposals submitted by scientists that address the objectives described in the program’s science plan. Advisory panels of international experts then rigorously evaluate the proposal for science quality, feasibility, safety, and any environmental issues. Proposals that are determined to be of high quality are forwarded to the appropriate facility board (JOIDES Resolution Facility Board, Chikyu IODP Board, and ECORD Facility Board) for scheduling.

Outcomes

Through the end of 2015, IODP expeditions have investigated subduction and formation of the continental crust, the Asian monsoon systems, the initiation of rifting and ocean basin formation, and the role of serpentinization in driving hydrothermal systems and sustaining microbiological communities.[11][12][13][14][15] Expeditions in 2016 will study seismogenic zones, past climate and ocean conditions near southern Africa, and the Chicxulub impact crater, among other topics.[9][16]

IODP publishes a detailed account of findings and makes all samples and cores freely available.[17] IODP’s open data policy assures global access to the information collected by the program, and it allows scientists to use data from multiple expeditions to investigate new hypotheses.

Cores collected during expeditions are stored at the IODP core repositories in Bremen, Germany (IODP Bremen Core Repository), College Station, Texas (IODP Gulf Coast Repository), and Kochi, Japan (Kochi Core Center). Scientists may visit any one of the facilities for onsite research or request a loan for teaching purposes/analysis. Archived cores include not only IODP samples, but also those retrieved by the Deep Sea Drilling Project, Ocean Drilling Program, and Integrated Ocean Drilling Program.[18]

References

  1. ↑ Council, National Research. Scientific Ocean Drilling: Accomplishments and Challenges. doi:10.17226/13232.
  2. ↑ "Discovering our oceans: A new era of ocean research drilling has dawned". phys.org. Retrieved 2016-03-07.
  3. ↑ Earth and Life Processes Discovered from Subseafloor Environments: A Decade of Science Achieved by the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP). Elsevier. 2014-12-03. ISBN 9780444626110.
  4. ↑ "Drilling hit by budget woes". Nature News & Comment. Retrieved 2016-03-07.
  5. ↑ "Science Plan for 2013-2023 - IODP". www.iodp.org. Retrieved 2016-03-07.
  6. ↑ "新十年科学大洋钻探——照亮地球的过去、现在和未来". www.nature.shu.edu.cn (in Chinese). doi:10.3969/j.issn.0253-9608.2015.04.001. Retrieved 2016-03-07.
  7. ↑ "Ocean Drilling | NSF - National Science Foundation". www.nsf.gov. Retrieved 2016-03-07.
  8. ↑ "Scientists Set Course for Next Decade of Scientific Ocean Drilling | Ocean Leadership". Consortium for Ocean Leadership. Retrieved 2016-03-07.
  9. 1 2 "Scientific Ocean Drilling Charts a New Course - Eos". Eos. Retrieved 2016-03-07.
  10. ↑ "International Ocean Drilling to Follow Simpler Structure". www.sciencemag.org. Retrieved 2016-03-07.
  11. ↑ "Expedition recovers mantle rocks with signs of life". phys.org. Retrieved 2016-03-07.
  12. ↑ "These scientists are drilling a deep hole into the bottom of the Indian Ocean. Here’s why.". Public Radio International. Retrieved 2016-03-07.
  13. ↑ "Researcher dodges typhoons, studies monsoons in the Japan Sea". phys.org. Retrieved 2016-03-07.
  14. ↑ "Going on a Rock Cruise". National Geographic (blogs). Retrieved 2016-03-07.
  15. ↑ "Expedition to look 5 million years into past to study climate change effects". ABC News. Retrieved 2016-03-07.
  16. ↑ "Chicxulub Dinosaur-Killer Asteroid Impact To Be Probed For Answers To Extinction Mysteries". Tech Times. 2015-04-13. Retrieved 2016-03-07.
  17. ↑ "Principles of Scientific Investigation - IODP". iodp.org. Retrieved 2016-03-07.
  18. ↑ "Repositories - IODP". iodp.org. Retrieved 2016-03-07.

External links

See Also

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