Division of Ocean Sciences - Spring 2001 Newsletter

Program News

Biological Oceanography / Chemical Oceanography / Marine Geology and Geophysics / Ocean Drilling Program / Oceanographic Technology and Interdisciplinary Coordination Program (OTIC) / Physical Oceanography / Education

Ocean Drilling Program

Organizational and Personnel News

In addition to “moving” to the new Marine Geosciences Section along with the Marine Geology & Geophysics Program, ODP is also experiencing some staff changes. Jamie Allan departed to become the department chair at Appalachian State University. He will be missed, and we wish him well in his new position. We want to welcome Brad Clement from Florida International University who arrived at the beginning of May to fill this vacated position. We are also searching to fill a second visiting scientist/engineer position recently identified for the ODP Program. It is expected that this position will concentrate on IODP planning - specifically with respect to the acquisition of the non-riser drill ship. The position was announced in the November 16 issue of EOS and is described in the vacancy section of this newsletter.

ODP plans for our FY 2001 budget include increases in U.S. ODP scientific research, including incremental support for drilling-related research under the MARGINS initiative.

ODP Field Programs

Focused funding at NSF in support of ODP science is divided between the US Science Support Program (USSSP) administered by JOI ($6.4M in FY 2000) and a separate unsolicited proposal/grant activity administered by NSF ($9M in FY 2000). As most of you probably know, you can keep abreast of USSSP news by going to http://www.joi-odp.org/ USSSP/. At NSF, ODP field programs supported for calendar year 2001 include: (1) an MCS and OBS study of rifting processes in the Gulf of Aden under the direction of Neil Driscoll (WHOI), John Diebold (LDEO) and Brian Taylor (University of Hawaii); (2) an MCS study of megamullions on the Mid Atlantic Ridge by Brian Tucholke (WHOI); (3) a heat flow study of the eastern Cocos plate under the direction of Andy Fisher (UCSC); (4) an MCS study of the Gulf of Corinth led by Brian Taylor (University of Hawaii); (6) construction and installation of instrumentation in the corks to be deployed at Nankai under the direction of Keir Becker (RSMAS); and (7) installation of fly-in corks in eastern Pacific ODP holes. Additional proposals for field programs are under review. To view what is being funded through the NSF/ODP unsolicited proposal/grant activity you can go to: https://www.nsf.gov/home/ grants/grants_awards.htm/.

Emphasis for field programs in 2002 will shift to planning for IODP drilling -more on this soon in a future article.

Integrated Ocean Drilling Program

The International Working Group (IWG) for the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) post-2003 continues to make solid progress toward developing the principles and framework for a new drilling program to be in place by October 1, 2003. The major events at the IWG meeting in January included the following three discussions:

  1. Discussion of review comments on the IODP Planning Subcommittee’s Science Plan for IODP. Following submission of the draft initial science plan in early October, the IWG commissioned an international blue-ribbon panel to review and evaluate the proposed program. Overall, the Committee was highly supportive of the Initial Plan, noting, “the ISP is a bold interdisciplinary and international project of extraordinary importance, high promise and unique significance.” Primary concerns raised with the Initial Science Plan included: (1) the lack of detail on the integration of mission specific platforms into the plan; (2) a need to clarify the strategies to encourage partnerships with other programs and industry; (3) a need to clarify the status of required technologies; and (4) further clarification on the cost estimates for the IODP. The committee also identified concerns with organization and implementation which need to be clarified in IWG - IODP planning. The updated, final plan -- “Earth, Oceans and Life” -- was published in May 2001.

  2. Discussion and acceptance of the basic principles (Platforms, Program, Membership, Implementation, and Management) for the IODP. These were described in the last newsletter, and can be found on the IODP site at http://www.iodp.org. The IODP Principles are designed to provide the basic framework for the IODP and its ground rules for operation, and will serve as the basis for the formal international agreements. Final consideration of the Management principle is scheduled for the June IWG meeting.

  3. Further consideration of a key provision in the Implementation Principle that calls for establishing an interim Science Advisory Structure (iSAS) until the formal IODP Science Advisory Structure is established on October 1, 2003. The iSAS will be a joint working group representing JOIDES and OD-21 science advisory committees, with approximately 1/3 Japanese, 1/3 US, and 1/3 other membership. JOIDES and OD-21 will cooperate in identifying membership on the committees. The chairs of IPSC and OD-21 scientific advisory committees will co-chair iSAS and its governing interim Planning Committee (iPC) and report directly to the IWG. IWG accepted terms of reference and operational procedures for this new structure at the January meeting. The IWG cochairs have formally requested OD-21 and JOIDES advisory structures to form the new advisory mechanism by June of this year. It is expected that there will be significant overlap in membership between corresponding JOIDES and iSAS committees and that the committees will meet in conjunction with each other.

To catch-up further on planning activities for future scientific ocean drilling we recommend that you watch the IODP web site: http://www.iodp.org.

EXCOM/SCICOM Leadership Changes

Before closing we would like to take this opportunity to issue a warm welcome to Drs. Chris Harrison and Keir Becker, as the new chairs of EXCOM and SCICOM respectively, with the move of the JOIDES office from the GEOMAR ResearchCenter, University of Kiel, Germany to the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science. We wish them well with their new responsibilities in this evolving and challenging period for scientific ocean drilling. At the same time, we would like to express a sincere debt of gratitude to the outgoing EXCOM and SCICOM chairs Drs. Helmut Beiersdorf (Bundesanstalt für Geowissennschafteen und Rohstoffe, Germany) and Bill Hay for their efforts on behalf of JOIDES during the past two years.

Bruce Malfait (bmalfait@nsf.gov)
J. Paul Dauphin (jdauphin@nsf.gov)
Brad Clement (bclement@nsf.gov)
Aprile Roberson (aroberso@nsf.gov)