Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) and European Consortium for Ocean Research Drilling (ECORD) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for scientific ocean drilling in the Chikyu Program.

The Chikyu Program is developed under the International Ocean Discovery Program 2013-2023.

The International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) is a multinational program of scientific research in the oceans, which started on October 1st, 2013, and which uses drilling and logging to undertake research on earth system processes ranging from changes in the earth’s climate to the rifting and drifting of continents.

The IODP science plan addresses four major research themes:

1. Climate and Ocean Change: Reading the Past, Informing the Future

2. Biosphere Frontiers: Deep life, Biodiversity, and Environmental Forcing of Ecosystems

3. Earth Connections: Deep Processes and Their Impact on Earth’s Surface Environment

4. Earth in Motion: Processes and Hazards on Human Time Scales

JAMSTEC and ECORD will collaborate by exchanging on-board scientists between the JAMSTEC’s scientific drilling vessel “Chikyu” and the ECORD’s Mission Specific Platforms (MSPs). D/V Chikyu will continuously engage in tackling scientific challenges in IODP over the next 10 years.

February 18, 2014; Image: JAMSTEC