The meeting was hosted by Severino Falcón Morales at the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science, and chaired by Raymond Schorno.
Chris Franklin was nominated incoming vice-chair as of 1st April 2008. Reinhard Belocky will replace U. Høeberg Hansen as member of the Executive on 1st January 2008. The ECORD Executive as of 1st April 2008 will consist of S. Falcón Morales (chair), C. Franklin (vice chair), B. Goffé (vice chair), C. Mével (EMA), R. Belocky (Austria), and S. Dürr (Germany).
Olav Eldholm reported on the structure and functioning of IODP-MI Board of Governors. The Council felt important to tighten the links with the three ECORD Governors, to convey ECORD position to the BoG.
Upon hearing the reports from IODP-MI Board of Governors, IODP-MI Council and SASEC, the Council discussed the current situation of the program. Financial restrictions at NSF and increased costs of all activities will result in less month of drilling for the JOIDES Resolution and the Chikyu, and in the necessity to lease the ships for activities outside IODP (industry or other government agencies). Considering the challenging financial situation the program is facing, passed the following motions that will be communicated to the Board of Governors and the Lead Agencies
ECORD Council motion 07-03-6:
ECORD Council strongly favours streamlining the IODP organisational structure but without endangering the integrative nature of the Program.
ECORD Council motion 07-03-7:
ECORD Council encourages the Lead Agencies to do everything in their power to seek funds to retain IODP activities in a way that there are continuous operations year round. ECORD will do everything it can to assist the Lead Agencies in this endeavour.
The Council noted that FY08 is a transitional year with even less drilling activities within IODP, due to the delay in the refit of the JOIDES Resolution and the postponement of riser drilling on the Chikyu. As a consequence, the Council is expecting the Lead Agencies to reduce the ECORD contribution in SOCs.
ESO informed Council of the sad loss of Tim Brewer, who was the manager of the European Petrophysics Consortium. Tim Brewer has been succeeded by Dr. Sarah Davies at Leicester University.
The New Jersey Shallow Shelf Expedition had to be postponed due to further delays in availability of a platform. The initial contractor has withdrawn and a new call for tendering has been issued in the OJEU. ESO is still aiming to start in May 2008.
The Great Barrier Reef Expedition is still provisionally scheduled for September-October 2008, although a number of factors may result in a delay to 2009. The site survey has been completed and ESO is negotiating the permit with the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.
Beyond, the schedule for MSP operations remains uncertain.
ESSAC Office has moved to Aix en Provence as of 1 October 2007. The new ESSAC Chair Gilbert Camoin attended ECORD Council and introduced Bonnie Wolf-Boenisch as the new Scientific Coordinator. ESSAC has been re-structured in three subcommittees to increase its efficiency and the involvement of ESSAC delegates.
ESSAC reported on the schedule of the drill ships. The refitted JOIDES Resolution will start mid-May 2008. The Chikyu has started scientific operations last September on the Nankai Trough Seismogenic Zone (NanTroSEIZE). The staffing for most FY08 expeditions is completed. ESSAC has prioritised the applicants to the Bering Sea Expedition. The call for application to Wilkes Land and Canterbury Basin scheduled in FY09 will close at the end of November. Gilbert Camoin presented the status of sail applications and quota balance. ESSAC will be proactive to encourage applications in relevant ECORD countries to keep quota balanced. ECORD scientists are very active in submitting proposals.
ESSAC reported on the success of support activities funded by ECORD in 2007: Distinguished Lecture Programme, Workshops, Summer Schools and associated scholarships. The Council allocated a budget to continue these programmes in 2008. Two summer schools are planned:
- Bremen Summer School 2008: “The deep subseafloor biosphere”,
- Urbino Summer School in Paleoceanography
The EuroFORUM2008 will be held jointly with ICDP at the European Geosciences Union meeting in Vienna next April.
EMA reported on ongoing negotiations with the Lead Agencies regarding the FY08 budget.
EMA informed on the E&O activities developed by EMA. New releases include Newsletter #9 and a revised ECORD brochure. ECORD will be present on the IODP booth at AGU, in December, and will organise the IODP booth at the EGU meeting in Vienna, next April as well as the IGC meeting in Oslo next August.
The ECORD Information database has been launched and Council members are encouraged to visit it.
EMA presented the ECORD budget situation for FY08 and beyond. Almost of the uncertainties have been resolved now, and most ECORD member countries will be able to meet the 60% increase of the Participation Unit. However, due to increased prices for all activities related to drilling, the ECORD budget will likely allow to implement one MSP expedition every two years.
The EMA, ESSAC and ESO budgets for FY08 presented to the Council were approved.
Future funding opportunities within the EC:
Ivan Conesa, ECORD-Net Project Officer at the European Commission, presented the ERA-Net scheme in FP7. The Council discussed various funding options (ERA-Net +, Horizontal ERA-Net Article 169, Infrastructures). An ECORD delegation will visit the EC in Brussels to discuss opportunities for additional funding.
To further develop the Deep Sea Frontier Initiative, ECORD Council decided to organise a meeting of its Steering Committee to discuss the strategy for the forthcoming years.
ERICON-Aurora Borealis Project
Paul Egerton (Polar Board, ESF) presented the status for the Aurora Borealis Project. The support action ERICON submitted to the EC will be funded. The Council expressed its interest for the Aurora Borealis project. This ship could be potentially used as an MSP to drill in the Arctic. ECORD is involved in the ERICON project: its experience in drilling in the Arctic as well as in science managing will be beneficial.
ECORD Council decided that, given the new funding situation in IODP, it is important to develop a strategy for ocean drilling and for relationships with industry in Europe during the last phase of the program and beyond. The Vision Group established at the last meeting is tasked to prepare a draft document to be discussed at the next meeting.
Next Council meeting: Paris, France, 2-3 June 2008.
-
|
Participants
|
| ECORD Council members |
|
Reinhard Belocky
|
Austria
|
| Kathy Gillis |
Canada |
| Ulla Høeberg-Hansen (Executive) |
Denmark |
| Sammuli Hemming (alternate) |
Finland |
| Sören Dürr |
Germany |
| Stefan Winkler (alternate) |
Germany |
| Hans Kristján Gudmundsson |
Iceland |
| Nigel Wardell (alternate) |
Italy |
| Xavier Monteys (alternate) |
Ireland |
|
Raymond M. L. Schorno (vice-Chair,
acting Chair)
|
Netherlands
|
| Are Carlson |
Norway |
| Fernando Barriga |
Portugal |
| Severino Falcón Morales (vice-Chair) |
Spain |
| Dan Holtstam |
Sweden
|
| Chris J. Franklin (Executive) |
U.K. |
| Observers |
| Catherine Mével |
EMA |
| Rosa-Bernal Carrera |
| Dan Evans |
ESO |
| Carol Cotterill |
ECORD-Net - WP5 |
| Sasha Leigh |
| Gilbert Camoin |
ESSAC |
| Olav Eldholm |
IODP-MI BoG |
| Yvan Conesa-Alcolea |
E.C. |
| Bernard Avril |
ESF |
| Paul Egerton |
ERICON-AB |
| Nicole Biebow |
AB Project |
-
-
-
