Yokohama

The world's largest ocean-drilling research team was given a crucial injection of cash last week, saving the programme from losing its only dedicated drilling ship.

The scientific planning committee of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) met in Yokohama to rank 19 science proposals, each one vying for drilling time during the fiscal year starting in October 2006. But the committee faced a serious problem — not having enough money for a ship to host these projects.

The IODP's current ship, the JOIDES Resolution — which is provided by the United States as part of its contribution to the multinational project — was assured of funding only until May 2005.

The IODP would face heavy competition and high prices if it then tried to commission a replacement ship, says Frank Rack, director of drilling programs for the US Joint Oceanographic Institutions, because high oil prices are driving oil companies to rent drilling ships for exploration.

The meeting was close to becoming nothing more than “an educational exercise”, says Mike Coffin, a geophysicist at the University of Tokyo and chair of the planning committee.

But representatives of the National Science Foundation, which funds US involvement in the programme, announced they would provide enough money to keep the JOIDES Resolution afloat. The amount is not clear and will depend on the cost of the proposals selected, but it came as a relief to scientists who feared that the projects they were ranking would be lost to a gap in funding. Instead, the committee now has to rush through plans for two additional cruises in 2005 and a possibility of six in 2006.

“We have to scramble,” says Terrence Quinn, a committee member from the University of South Florida. “You don't want to have a boat without projects to go on it.”

The top three projects picked are all geophysics studies — something of a surprise given the growing presence of climate studies in ocean drilling projects, says Coffin. The top priority is to drill through the Guatemala Basin, all the way through the ocean crust, revealing details of magma formation, hydrothermal effects and tectonic processes. Investigations into the earthquake-generating zone in the Nankai Trough off Japan are next on the list.