233-1 U.S. Scientific Ocean Drilling: a New Phase Using Mission Specific Platforms

Abstract:

U.S. led scientific ocean drilling (US SciOD) has revolutionized the geosciences using the dedicated riserless drilling vessels, the Glomar Challenger (1968-1983) and the JOIDES Resolution (1985-2024) to access the subseafloor record, collecting ~97% of the current scientific ocean drilling archive. With the retirement of the Resolution in 2024, US SciOD is transitioning into a new phase using a mission specific platform (MSP) model (i.e., vessels of opportunity). To coordinate MSP activities the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is funding the Scientific Ocean Drilling Coordination Office (SODCO), a partnership between Texas A&M University (TAMU) and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University (LDEO). SODCO is responsible for assisting principal investigators (PI) with developing operational plans for drilling proposals, coordinating community expedition staffing, and planning and implementing expeditions, including contracting drilling platforms. In addition, SODCO is charged with providing support for community planning via workshops, training and workforce development opportunities, innovation and pre-drilling activity grants, the Schlanger Ocean Drilling graduate fellowship, and program communication and outreach. The award also supports a site survey data bank for site characterization data at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the downhole logging database, LogDB, at LDEO. Drilling proposals can now be submitted to NSF’s Sub-Seafloor Sampling Program (S3P). PIs need to work with SODCO prior to submission to develop the drilling plan and other required documentation.

SODCO will continue to capture the core, fluid, and borehole measurements that compose the robust legacy of SciOD data through offshore operations and onshore laboratory analyses. Critical and ephemeral measurements will be conducted offshore in customized laboratory and support containers by a subset of the expedition science team. Seven containers (physical properties, chemistry, microbiology, curation, IT/database, and two offices) have been designed, acquired, and are being customized by a vendor with expected delivery at the end of the year. Following the shipboard phase, expedition cores will be shipped to the TAMU Gulf Coast Repository (GCR) for the onshore phase of the expedition where the cores will be split, analyzed, and described by the expedition science team in the extensive GCR laboratories.

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