ECORD Council #16 - Summary / Rome, 25-26 November 2009

The meeting was hosted by Nigel Wardell at the headquarters of the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) in Rome.
Mireille Perrin was elected incoming vice-chair as of 1 April 2010 and José Sánchez as member of the Executive. The ECORD Executive as of April 1, 2010 will consist of G. Lüniger (Chair), N. Wardell (vice-Chair), M. Perrin (vice-Chair), C. Mével (EMA), J. Sánchez (Spain) and M. Webb (United Kingdom).

John Ludden reported on the IODP-MI Board of Governors (BoG) meeting held last June in Washington DC. Brian Taylor (University of Hawaii) has been appointed as the new Chair. Daniel Prieur (European Institute for Marine Studies) has been replaced by Gerold Wefer (University of Bremen). The meeting focused on the transition from two IODP-MI Offices into a single IODP management office located in Tokyo, Japan. The BoG approved several changes in the By-laws to facilitate the consolidation and relocation of the management office. The Board approved the Program Plan for FY2010 and asked SASEC to come up with a 3-year plan (FY11-FY13) for the rest of the program.

Nicholas Arndt reported on the last SASEC meeting held in Washington DC in June 2009. Most of SASEC's recent activities have focussed on the future of the program post-2013. In particular, SASEC nominated the members for the Science Plan Writing Group (SPWG), for International Working Group + (IWG+) approval. ECORD Council approved the proposed membership. ECORD Council recommended that in the science plan topics such as geodynamics, natural resources and geohazards are given due emphasis.

Catherine Mével reported on the June 17, 2009 IODP Council meeting held in Washington DC. She presented the IODP Program Plan Budgets from 2004-2009. The Program Plan Budget has increased significantly since 2008 with the Chikyu becoming operational. NSF received a substantial “one shot” budget increase as its share of the American Reinvest and Recovery Act funds. However the USIO needs to find commercial work to be able to fund 8 months of IODP expeditions until 2013. The Consortium for Ocean Leadership has appointed Brad Clement as the IODP Director at TAMU. The JOIDES Resolution is implementing its fourth expedition following its refit. The Chikyu has drilled for the first time in riser mode for IODP. Catherine Mével also reported on IWG+ activities. IGW+ has established a timeline for the renewal of the program. The new architecture, the science plan and the implementation plan should be finalised by mid-2011. IWG+ will meet in Korea in January 2010.

Dr. Kiyoshi Suyehiro, President of IODP-MI, indicated that 2009 has been a successful year for IODP. For the first time the three platforms have been working simultaneously for the program delivering exciting science and opportunities. Dr Suyehiro informed the Council about the consolidation of the IODP-MI offices: the Tokyo Office will start operating from late December, the Washington DC and Sapporo offices are expected to close at the end of December 2009 and mid-February 2010 respectively. The IODP Lead Agencies have asked for the Second Triennial Review of IODP-MI (FY07-09). The review will focus on the effectiveness of the IODP science planning process, SAS functionality, relationships between the SAS, IODP-MI and the Implementing Organizations. Finally, Dr Suyehiro listed the challenges that the Central Management Office is facing, including the delivery of IODP science, serving IODP members, bridging to the next program, maintaining and developing IODP values.

William Ridley reported that NSF has requested the National Academy of Science to conduct an evaluation of the scientific contributions of ocean drilling (DSDP, ODP and IODP) and on the outline of the post-2013 science plan. He indicated that this evaluation will determine approval of the new program. Dr Ridley indicated that NSF is looking carefully into the definition of the structure of the new drilling program.

Shingo Shibata from MEXT reported that in FY09 Chikyu operated five months for IODP and that the first riser drilling expedition was successfully completed. He indicated that the funding decision for FY10 is still pending. Y. Kawamura from CDEX presented a report on IODP NantroSEIZE Expedition 319 and 322. He summarised the scientific and technological achievements of these expeditions.

Catherine Mével informed Council on EMA outreach activities. EMA released ECORD Newsletter #13 to be distributed at the AGU Fall meeting in San Francisco. The electronic version of the Vienna Workshop report on the Future of European Scientific Drilling is available for download at the ECORD web site. The 2010 ECORD calendar has been prepared and distributed. EMA provided support to several national activities and meetings. Finally, EMA presented a summary of all outreach resources available to ECORD member countries. The final ECORD-Net report has been accepted by the European Commission. The ECORD-Net partners will receive the last payment very soon.

The EC-funded DS3F (Deep Seafloor and Sub Seafloor Frontier) project has been signed. Under this coordination action (1 M€ over 30 months) led by Achim Kopf (University of Bremen), workshops will be organised to produce a road map for the deep sea-frontier initiative, to better integrate drilling with other activities investigating the deep sea. 

Catherine Mével presented the ECORD budget. It is anticipated that ECORD will be able to implement two further MSP expeditions after the Great Barrier Reef Environmental Changes (GBREC) Expedition before the end of the program.

Dan Evans gave an update on ESO MSP activities. ECORD Council accepted the financial statement for FY09 presented by ESO. The New Jersey Shallow Shelf Expedition completed operations on July 17. The Onshore Science Party took place in Bremen from November 6 to December 5. Dr Evans described the outreach activities associated with this expedition, including coverage from several US news channels, a well-attended media conference and the promotional material prepared by an IODP film crew onboard the drilling platform. Regarding the operations, Dr Evans indicated that drilling, as expected, proved to be very challenging. However, the core recovery was generally good around 80% and little time was lost.
Dr Evans informed Council that the platform provider for the Great Barrier Reef Environmental Changes Expedition had insurmountable problems with the vessel that was to be used, the Bluestone Topaz. The company has proposed a brand new vessel, the Greatship Maya to fulfil its obligation to ESO. The new ship has a greater capability, better DP and is faster. The expedition is anticipated to leave Townsville on January 21, and to last for 45 days. The Onshore Science Party will be in Bremen starting on July 6, 2010. ESO has started scoping the Hawaiian Drowned Reefs proposal, for a possible implementation in 2011.

Rüdiger Stein reported on ESSAC activities. The transfer of the ESSAC Office from Aix-en-Provence to Bremerhaven has been very smooth. The new team is in place and working. A new Science Coordinator, Jeannette Lezius has been appointed. Dr Stein informed Council that ECORD led 47 % of the new proposals submitted to IODP at the October 1 2009 deadline, as well as 41% of all active proposals.
ESSAC has sent out on November 5, three calls for applications for scientific participants on the Juan de Fuca Hydrogeology II, South Pacific Gyre Microbiology, and the Louisville Seamount Chain expeditions. Dr Stein summarised the current situation regarding quotas and staffing, he indicated that the general tendency has been maintained with some countries severely underquota. However, he mentioned that at least 20 expeditions will take place before the end of the program and this problem would very likely be resolved. ECORD Council also considered the case of countries that are over their quota.  ECORD Council endorsed ESSAC nominations for SSEP (Science Steering and Evaluation Panel).
ECORD Summer Schools: Dr Stein informed Council that the two summer schools ECORD supported in 2009 (Urbino Summer School in Paleoclimatology and Bremen Summer School ‘Geodynamics of Mid Ocean Ridges’) were very successful. In 2010, ECORD will support three summer schools in Germany, Italy and Canada, all related to climate themes. A call for scholarships will be sent out in January 2010. The call for 2011 ECORD Summer Schools has been out since November 23.
Continuing the success of the ECORD Distinguished Lectures, the call for the 2010-2011 round was sent out on November 20 with a deadline of March 2010. A decision on the lecturers will be made at the next ESSAC meeting in May 2009. The call for ECORD Grants will be issued in December 2009. These are merit-based awards for outstanding graduate students to conduct research related to IODP. Dr Stein informed Council that the EuroFORUM 2010: 'Achievements and perspectives in scientific ocean and continental drilling' will take place during the EGU 2010 meeting in Vienna.

Paul Egerton, Executive Director of the European Polar Board, presented different instruments developed by ESF which could be useful for ECORD development. In this regard, ECORD Council considered that the Magellan Workshop Series has been very successful in building the ocean drilling scientific community at the ECORD level and developing drilling proposals. ECORD Council decided to investigate with ESF how this programme could be extended to facilitate the development of new proposals for the next phase of ocean drilling.

Niall McDonough, Executive Scientific Secretary of the Marine Board, presented a general overview of the Marine Board, its structure, main objectives and high-level marine policy activities. ECORD Council is willing to continue the dialogue with the Marine Board and investigate how ocean drilling/DSF concept could be incorporated in the planned “Navigating the Future” position paper.

Bonnie Wolff-Boenisch, ERICON Aurora Borealis Executive Manager, reported on the status of the ERICON Project. She presented some proposals on how ECORD could interact with ERICON to use the AB as an MSP.

ECORD Council continued the discussion on the future of scientific ocean drilling, post-2013. To help member countries in their decision, ECORD Council will conduct an independent evaluation of the ECORD scientific achievements using ocean drilling and of future prospects in a new programme of sub-seafloor exploration. ECORD Council established a European timeline for renewal, in agreement with the IWG+ timeline. In particular, the ECORD member countries who are willing to participate in the new program will be requested to submit an expression of interest by the end of 2011.  At the international level, the ECORD position for the new program architecture and management structure will be conveyed by the ECORD delegation at the IWG+ meeting in Korea.

Robert Gatliff, Head of Marine Geosciences at the British Geological Survey, announced the retirement of Dan Evans after the end of the offshore part of GBREC. He informed Council that the ESO organisation will be modified. He will become the ESO Chair and will be assisted by David McInroy who has a long experience with ESO as Staff Scientist during three MSP expeditions.

ECORD Council thanked Dan Evans for his accomplishments as the ECORD Science Operator Manager. Council recognised that he played a major role in setting up ESO and in implementing the first three very successful MSP expeditions. He largely contributed to making ECORD a key player (if not a Lead Agency) in IODP.


Next Council meeting: Berlin, Germany, 2-3 June, 2010
Participants
ECORD Council members/alternates
Reinhard Belocky Austria
Anne de Vernal Canada
Marit-Solveig Seidenkrantz Denmark
Mireille Perrin France
Nigel Wardell (Chair) Italy
Koen Verbruggen Ireland
Fernando Barriga (Vice-chair) Portugal
José Ramon Sanchez Quintana Spain
Magnus Friberg
Sweden
Martina Kern-Lütschg Switzerland
Sasha Leigh U.K.
Observers
Catherine Mével EMA
Rosa Bernal-Carrera
Dan Evans ESO
Robert Gatliff
Rüdiger Stein ESSAC
Kyoshi Suyehiro IODP-MI
John Ludden IODP-MI BoG
Nicholas Arndt SASEC
Shingo Shibata MEXT
Shingi Hida
Takashi Nakagawa
Yoshi Kawamura CDEX
William Ridley NSF
Paul Egerton European Polar Board (ESF)
Niall McDonough Marine Board (ESF)
Bonnie Wolff-Boenisch ERICON-AB


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