A True Floating Laboratory

By Susan Wolff
 

The deep-sea drill ship JOIDES Resolution — a true “floating laboratory” — made a rare U.S. port call to Mobile, Ala., during the summer of 2005. During the Mobile port call scientists prepared for Expedition 308 by holding pre-cruise meetings to prepare for conducting scientific drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. The earthern cores that are collected by the rig are examined for clues to the Earth’s history and structure, and help scientists gain a deeper understanding about the history of the Earth and global processes such as climate change.

The JOIDES Resolution, operated under an agreement developed by the U.S. National Science Foundation, has a flat bottom, a 6.6 meter diameter hole in the middle, and a derrick towering 62 meters above the waterline. Fifty scientists and technicians operate 12 laboratories onboard the vessel, while a crew of 60 operate and maintain the vessel and drilling equipment.

The Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) is an international effort dedicated to advancing scientific understanding of the Earth by sampling and monitoring sub-seafloor environments using multiple drilling platforms. The science activities carried out on the JOIDES Resolution are operated by the JOI Alliance comprised of Joint Oceanographic Institutions, Inc., the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, and Texas A&M University.