Geoscience
faculty member Steve Hovan will begin a three-year appointment to serve on the Science
Evaluation Panel for the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) starting October 2013. Hovan will serve with a
team of international scientists to evaluate, cultivate, and recommend
scientific ocean drilling proposals for funding by the IODP.
The International Ocean Discovery Program will begin in October 2013 with the
support of 26 nations. It is planned to last for 10 years.
This new
international research program will bring together the Earth, ocean, atmospheric,
and life sciences with a common goal of understanding the Earth’s past, present,
and future. The program’s science plan, “Illuminating Earth's Past, Present, and
Future,” addresses pressing scientific priorities and social concerns within
four themes: Climate and Ocean Change, Biosphere Frontiers, Earth Connections,
and Earth in Motion.
To achieve its aims, the program will draw on information from beneath the
ocean floor, brought to the surface by ocean coring technologies and borehole
observatories. Implementation requires two permanent ocean drilling platforms—the JOIDES Resolution and the riser vessel D/V Chikyu—and the option to
charter mission-specific platforms for operations in specialized ocean
environments. These platforms will be supplied by the IODP partners.
More information about the program and its goals for scientific discovery
can be found at the IODP website.
Geoscience Department