Overview
To assess the state of the art for observatories in scientific ocean drilling and to discuss the role that observatories have in the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) for post-2013 scientific drilling, forty-five scientists, engineers, and national funding representatives participated in a two-day workshop at Rice University in Houston, TX, USA. The Consortium for Ocean Leadership and the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, Management International Inc. (IODP-MI) provided funding for the workshop. The workshop participants discussed the scientific achievements and technological developments of 20+ years of observatory science and then addressed the science and technical needs to address community-driven science goals stated in the IODP science plan [Bickle et al., 2011].
The workshop started with historic overviews and summaries of observatories in the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) and Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) as well as discussions of the technical capabilities of the different IODP platforms (JOIDES Resolution, Chikyu, mission-specific platforms). Two key points were emphasized in this discussion: (1) the success of observatory science has benefited from adaptive technical developments centered around science problems; and (2) with appropriate lead time, each observatory platform developed to date has been versatile in application.
Workshop Report (PDF; 18.4 MB)
CORK Observatories Website
Steering Committee
Brandon Dugan (convener), Rice University
Heinrich Villinger (convener), Universität Bremen
Nori Kyo (convener), JAMSTEC
Keir Becker, University of Miami
Earl Davis, National Research Council Canada
Achim Kopf, MARUM
Geoff Wheat, University of Alaska Fairbanks
Sponsors