A Science Support Office for the International Ocean Discovery Program

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The International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) will serve to advance basic research in the marine geosciences and will be supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and more than 25 other international partners. IODP builds on a rich legacy of scientific ocean drilling pioneered by NSF in the 1960's with the Deep Sea Drilling Project, which provided a test of the plate tectonic hypothesis and a basic reconnaissance of deep sea sediments and crustal rocks. This was followed in 1985 by the Ocean Drilling Program, which focused on examination of Earth, ocean and climate processes. The current 26-member Integrated Ocean Drilling Program commenced in 2003 and has served as an expanded program of scientific ocean drilling based on "Earth, Oceans and Life: Scientific Investigations of the Earth System Using Multiple Drilling Platforms and new Technologies; Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Initial Science Plan, 2003 - 2013" (http://www.iodp.org/initial-science-plan). Although the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program is terminating as planned in September, 2013, ocean drilling remains an essential capability in modern geoscience research and education and is used to examine processes ranging from changes in the Earth's climate to the rifting and drifting of continents. Drilling is the primary tool for sampling sediment and crustal rock from the 70 percent of the Earth?s surface covered by oceans, and is the only technique for sampling anything more than a few meters deeper than the ocean floor. Thus, the new IODP will commence October 1, 2013, utilizing the new science plan Illuminating Earth?s Past, Present, and Future (http://www.iodp.org/Science-Plan-for-2013-2023/) based on the planning efforts of over 600 international ocean and earth scientists. The plan identifies the following four themes for initial emphasis in the new IODP: Climate and Ocean Change: Reading the Past, Informing the Future targets one of society?s most pressing questions?how will climate, the ocean, and ice sheets respond to ongoing increases in greenhouse gases? Biosphere frontiers: Deep Life, Biodiversity, and Environmental Forcing of Ecosystems will focus on exploration of deep life within the subseafloor, where microbes isolated from the photosynthetic world live at the limits of habitability.Earth Connections: Deep Processes and Their Impact on Earth?s Surface Environment will examine the links between surface, lithospheric, and deep Earth processes.Earth in Motion: Processes and Hazards on Human Time Scales addresses dynamic processes that occur on human time scales, including those leading to and resulting from earthquakes, landslides, and tsunami.The JOIDES Resolution, Chikyu, and Mission-Specific Platform (MSP) drilling platforms will continue to be provided to IODP by NSF, Japan, and the European Consortium for Ocean Research Drilling, respectively, to address these science themes. The new science plan draws upon lessons learned in the previous programs to build a much-simplified and streamlined multi-platform international program based on cooperation rather than integration. IODP planning for JOIDES Resolution operations will be conducted under a Facilities Board rather than an integrated Science Advisory Structure, and management and funding for JOIDES Resolution operations will occur independently of the other IODP drilling platforms. The Facilities Board (FB), already in place, is made up of scientists and governmental representatives of nations contributing to JOIDES Resolution operations, as well as representatives of the JOIDES Resolution science operator. The Facilities Board is advised by Proposal Evaluation, Site Characterization, and Environmental Protection and Safety Panels, and will be further served by a Site Survey Databank (SSDB). The FB and its advisory panels will be utilized for proposal review by other science operators in IODP. This new management structure has been developed and accepted by the International Working Group+, composed of governmental and science representatives from countries planning to participate in the new IODP. The IODP Science Support Office, to be provided by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, will provide logistical support for the Facilities Governing Board and its advisory panels, manage and archive IODP Proposals and oversee their external review, and manage the SSDB. This Cooperative Agreement provides financial support for the IODP Science Support Office, and is intended to cover an initial five year, three month period beginning on July 1, 2013. A Program Review will be held prior to completion of the initial period and the results will guide a decision to re-compete or renew the Cooperative Agreement for a second five year period. The initial three months of award represents a start-up period designed to provide overlap with and ensure critical exchange of files and documents with IODP Management International, Inc. before NSF Contract OCE-0432224 for the IODP Central Management Office expires September 30, 2013.