ECORD Council #11 - Summary / Den Haag, 7-8 June 2007

The meeting was hosted by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) and chaired by Raymond Schorno.

Severino Falcon-Morales was nominated incoming vice-chair as of 1st October 2007. U. Høeberg-Hansen replaces S. Persoglia as member of the Executive. The ECORD Executive as of 1 October 2007 will consist of B. Goffé (chair), S. Falcón Morales (vice chair), R. Schorno (vice chair), C. Mével (EMA), U. Høeberg-Hansen (Denmark), and C. Franklin (UK).

ESO reported on the New Jersey Shallow Shelf expedition, which is now planned to start in July 2007. A geotechnical survey has been completed to demonstrate suitable ground conditions for the platform. ESO is now waiting for contract completion. The rig availability is delayed to the end of June therefore the operation will extend into mid-late October. This weather window is not optimum because it overlaps the hurricane season. Bad weather should not affect the rig but would raise issues of supply of the platform. Any further delay will report the expedition for next year. The next expedition implemented by ESO will be the Great Barrier Reef. Contacts have been made with Australian authorities regarding permits. The expedition is provisionally scheduled for September-November weather window of 2008, i.e. across FY08 and FY09. It will be funded by combining FY08 and FY09 POCs. Future possible MSP expeditions were presented, and budget implications were discussed. The council decided that, to keep the momentum in ESO, it is necessary to implement an expedition at least every other year. As a consequence, given the budget realities, ECORD will not implement very expensive expeditions unless other funding sources can be found.

ESSAC reported on the schedule of the drillships. The staffing for the NantroSEIZE and the Equatorial Pacific projects has been completed.
Three Magellan workshops are planned in the near future and the communication with the Magellan steering committee has improved.
ESSAC reported on the new activities funded by ECORD in 2007.
The ECORD Teachers Workshop in Vienna was very well received. It was attended by 70 participants from 22 European countries. ESSAC is planning to continue this activity in the future.
The Distinguished Lecturer Programme has been advertised. ESSAC has already received 20 applications to host a lecture.

Two ECORD co-sponsored summer schools will take place this summer:
- Bremen Summer School on Paleoceanography (August 2007)
- Urbino Summer School on Paleoclimatology (July 2007).
Ten scholarships of 1000 Euros each one, have been awarded to students to attend these summer schools. 48 application s were received.

The ECORD Council endorsed the ESSAC recommendations for the IODP SAS panels:
Scientific Technology Panel, Natalie Vigier (Fr) for Christophe Basile (Fr)
Site Survey Panel, Neil Mitchell (UK) for Roger Searle (UK)
Science Steering & Evaluation Panel, Kai-Uwe Hinrichs (Ger) for Rüdiger Stein (Ger)

ECORD Council approved the proposal by ESSAC to establish a pool of knowledgeable ECORD scientists to draw upon if SASEC representatives and their formal alternates are not available to attend SASEC meetings.

ECORD Council approved ESSAC nomination of Rüdiger Stein as new vice-chair as of 1 October 2007. Council approved the implication that in principle ESSAC office will move to Bremerhaven as of 1 October 2009. The Council thanked Chris MacLeod for serving as ESSAC Chair.

ECORD Council approved the 2008 ESSAC support budget and an additional budget for summer school activities. ESSAC was invited to present a detailed budget proposal at the next Council meeting for other support activities in 2008.

EMA reported on the budget situation of IODP and presented the draft of the Program Plan for FY08. The budget for FY08 has increased considerably because the CHYKIU and the refitted JOIDES Resolution will start operations. C. Mevel attended the Management Forum Meeting and reported on the strategies discussed to secure IODP funding in the next years.
The ECORD budget for FY08 and beyond is still uncertain because for the decision for the 60% increase is still pending in a few member countries, but the overall situation is very encouraging.

The “Deep Sea Frontier” foresight paper has been published by the European Commission and is posted on the ECORD website.
ECORD is involved in two proposals to the EC: a coordination action on the DSF initiative and a proposal for the preparatory phase of the Aurora Borealis. In parallel, ECORD is continuing discussions with the commission for an ERAnet+ in FP7. This will require political support at the national level of all member countries.ECORD is involved in the consultation led by the ESF Marine Board concerning the EC Green Paper on Maritime Policy and will be represented at the EUROCEAN 07 meeting in Aberdeen.

ECORD Council finalised the response to the ECORD evaluation committee. Following the committee recommendation, ECORD Council established a vision group to develop a strategy for the future of ocean drilling in Europe, after the end of IODP.

ECORD Council welcomed the close relations that are being developed with ICDP and thanked U. Harms for attending the meeting.

Next Council meeting: Madrid, Spain, 22-23 October 2007.

Participants
ECORD Council members
Reinhard Belocky
Austria
Ulla Høeberg-Hansen Denmark
Eija Kanto Finland
Sammuli  Hemming (alternate) Finland
Bruno Goffé (vice-chair) France
Stefan Winkler (alternate, acting vice-chair) Germany
Hans Kristján Gudmundsson Iceland
Nigel Wardell (alternate) Italy
Raymond M. L. Schorno (Chair)
Netherlands
Are Carlson Norway
Fernando Barriga Portugal
Severino Falcón Morales (alternate) Spain
Dan Holtstam
Sweden
Marcel Kullin Switzerland
Chris J. Franklin (Executive) U.K.
Observers
Catherine Mével EMA
Rosa-Bernal Carrera
Dan Evans ESO
Carol Cotteril
Chris MacLeod ESSAC
Saskia Matheussen NWO
Bernard Avril ESF
Daniel Prieur IODP-MI BoG
Ulrich Harms ICDP


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