ECORD Council #17 - Summary / Berlin, 2-3 June 2010

The meeting was hosted by Guido Lüniger (Chair), at the German Office of the European Commission in Berlin.

Anne de Vernal was elected incoming Vice-Chair as of October 1, 2010. The ECORD Executive as of October 1, 2010 will consist of Mireile Perrin (Chair), Guido Lüniger (Vice-Chair), Anne de Vernal (Vice-Chair), Catherine Mével (EMA), José Sánchez-Quitana (Spain) and Mike Webb (United Kingdom).

Dr. Kiyoshi Suyehiro, President of IODP-MI, presented the current and planned schedule of operations for the three platforms in FY 2010-2011. He detailed the consolidation of the IODP-MI office with the closures of the Washington DC and Sapporo offices at the end of December 2009 and mid-February 2010 respectively and the relocation of the IODP-MI office in Tokyo in March 2010. The second Triennium Review of IODP-MI (FY07-09) is in progress and is concentrating on the Science Advisory Structure. The report will be available by mid-June.
The Science Plan Writing Committee is currently finalising the first draft of the Science Plan for the post-2013 programme. It will be posted on-line this summer and will be available for comments until mid-September. The INVEST report will be also available soon.
Dr Suyehiro gave an overview of the IODP management and detailed the respective costs of platform operations as well as integrated activities (management, core repositories, database and outreach activities).

John Ludden, IODP-MI Board of Governors (BoG), reported on the last meeting held in December in San Francisco. He reminded the Council that the IODP-BoG is the potential voice of the science drilling community. He reported on the IODP-MI office consolidation in Tokyo, the 2010 Program Plan, the Triennium Review, the INVEST report and the IODP corporate budget (from non-contract funds of IODP-MI).

Jan de Leeuw reported on the last SASEC meeting held in Seoul in January 2010. SASEC requested that SPC/OTF develop a small number of alternative drilling schedules for the remainder of IODP through 2013 that incorporate the highest priority science to be completed before the end of the program. These plans will be presented at the June meeting.
SASEC is involved in the preparation of the next phase. SASEC participated in the setting up of the SPWC. A sub-committee of SASEC presented a possible model for the SAS structure. The model, which involves simplification of the current structure, was approved by the committee and passed to IWG+ for consideration.

Ian Ridley presented the NSF report by detailing the US funding for IODP, the programme schedule of the JOIDES Resolution for the 2009-11 expeditions and how the US Science Support Program is organised (science grants, workshops, Distinguished lecturers series and fellowships).

Catherine Mével, ECORD Managing Agency (EMA) Director, informed the Council that Amine-Mohammed Benchikh has replaced Rosa Bernal-Carrera as the EMA Executive Assistant. She presented the ECORD budget for FY11 and beyond. The Council aims to implement two MSP expeditions before the end of the program  however this can not be done within the current POC budget. Discussions are ongoing with the Lead Agencies to modify the ECORD SOC/POC ratio. Council approved the FY11 budgets presented by ESO, ESSAC and EMA.

Patricia Maruéjol, EMA, informed the Council that the ECORD Newsletter #14 and a new ECORD folder were distributed at the EGU meeting in Vienna. She also presented a detailed list of national and international outreach and education events supported by ECORD, as well as the future ECORD outreach plans for the next 6 months.

Robert Gatliff gave an update on ESO and MSP activities. The Onshore Science Party for the New Jersey Shallow Shelf expedition was successfully completed by early December 2009. The review of the operations will take place in Edinburgh in  July 2010. The Great Barrier Reef Environmental Changes Expedition was delayed until February 2010 due to problems with the ship that ESO originally planned to use. The expedition was finally completed with a new ship, the Greatship Maya. The Onshore Science Party will take place in early July in Bremen.

Rüdiger Stein reported on ESSAC activities. The Council approved the nomination of Carlota Escutia-Dotti as the new Vice-Chair of ESSAC, to become the Chair in October 2011. The Council also endorsed ESSAC nominations to the SAS panels.
40 of the 105 proposals currently in the system are led by ECORD scientists. Rüdiger Stein reported on OTF discussions regarding the final years of the program. He summarised the current situation regarding quotas and staffing.
In 2010, ECORD will support three summer schools in Germany, Italy and Canada, all related to palaeoclimate themes, with ECORD scholarships to help student participation. Five ECORD grants of ~€2000 have been allocated to PhD/Post-Docs to work on data from the successive ocean drilling programs. Three new ECORD Distinguished Lecturers have been selected by ESSAC: Dominique Weis (Canada), Helmut Weissert (Switzerland) and Kai-Uwe Hinrichs (Germany).

The Council endorsed the proposition by Sasha Leigh (NERC) that the ECORD Industry Liaison panel should organise a workshop to discuss possible joint industry-academia projects in the Arctic area.

The EC-funded Deep-Sea and Sub-Seafloor Frontier (DS3F) project started on January 1, 2010. The coordinator, Achim Kopf, will give a presentation at the next EurOCEAN 2010 Conference in Ostende, October 12-13. A number of workshops are being organised this fall.

The ESF “Magellan Workshop Series” ends in 2011. A summary provided by Paul Egerton (ESF) indicated that this programme has been very successful in helping ECORD scientists prepare drilling proposals. ESF is organising a workshop next summer to discuss possible continuation of the workshop series.

Bonnie Wolff-Boenisch, Executive Manager of the ERICON Aurora Borealis, reported on the status of the ERICON Project. Progress has been made in evaluating the construction and operation costs for the research vessel Aurora Borealis.

Catherine Mével reported on the International Working Group+ (IWG+) activities. IWG+ met in Seoul in January 2010. Progress has been made on the post-2013 programme architecture and management. A plan for the transition period is being finalised. The Council discussed the revised “points of agreements” in preparation for the next meeting, scheduled in June, in Kyoto. To help the ECORD member countries decide on their participation in the future phase of ocean drilling, a “business plan” will be developed, and an evaluation of the scientific and operational accomplishments of ECORD within IODP will be conducted.

Annika Thies from the European Commission presented the new ERIC scheme and its advantages. The Council is interested in considering this option for the ECORD management structure in the next phase. However, it is not yet clear whether this scheme would be applicable. Further investigation is planned.

Uli Harms presented the 2010 status of ICDP. He gave an overview of recent drilling projects implemented by ICDP. He insisted on the connections between IODP/ECORD and ICDP. The Council welcomed his offer to strengthen the ties by facilitating the handling of proposals for joint and related projects, and for extending cooperation in education and outreach.

Next Council meeting: 17-18 November, 2010, Paris, France, 
Participants
ECORD Council members/alternates
Reinhard Belocky Austria
Jean-Pierre Henriet Belgium
Anne de Vernal Canada
Marit-Solveig Seidenkrantz Denmark
Mireille Perrin (Vice-chair) France
Jenni Virtanen Finland
Guido Lüniger (Chair) Germany
Koen Verbruggen Ireland
Josef Stuefer The Netherlands
Fernando Barriga Portugal
José Ramon Sanchez Quintana Spain
Dan Holtstam
Sweden
Mike Webb The United Kingdom
Observers
Catherine Mével EMA
Mohammed Benchikh
Patricia Maruéjol
Robert Gatliff
Rüdiger Stein ESSAC
Kyoshi Suyehiro IODP-MI
John Ludden IODP-MI BoG
Gerold Wefer
Jan de Leeuw SASEC
Ian Ridley NSF
Bonnie Wolff-Boenisch ERICON-AB
Uli Harms ICDP
Annika Thies ERIC-EC


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