ANN ARBOR—For almost 30 years, University of
Michigan geological sciences researchers have played key
roles in the international Ocean Drilling Program and its
predecessor, the Deep Sea Drilling Project. Now the U-M is
moving to a new level of involvement with the program by
joining the Joint Oceanographic Institutions (JOI).

JOI, which is made up of 14 member institutions,
manages the scientific planning and operations for the
Ocean Drilling Program, the largest international
geosciences program in the world. On two-month cruises
aboard the program’s drill ship, the JOIDES Resolution,
teams of scientists, engineers, technicians and crew
members from around the world collect and analyze
cylindrical core samples of sediment and rock. From these
samples, scientists have pieced together increasingly
detailed insights into Earth’s history.

For example, they’ve learned how variations in Earth’s
orbit, such as the tilt of the axis, have affected ocean
currents, rainfall, climate and ecosystems, which in turn,
may have influenced human evolution. The program’s
research also has expanded knowledge of plate tectonics,
leading to better understanding of what causes large-scale
earthquakes and where they may occur.

“This is the longest-running, best international
project of any science, any time, anyplace, and we’ve been
asked to help run it,” says David Rea, professor and chair
of the U-M Department of Geological Sciences. “We’ve
already been directly involved in the planning and
operations for 25 or 30 years, but now we are in a position
to help make the final decisions about all the science that
gets done.”

Until recently, membership in JOI was limited to the
original 10 founding institutions (Scripps Institution of
Oceanography (UC San Diego), Lamont-Doherty Earth
Observatory (Columbia), University of Hawaii, University of
Miami, Oregon State University, University of Rhode Island,
Texas A&M University, University of Texas, University of
Washington, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute). But in
the past two years, JOI has expanded to include four
additional schools with long histories of involvement in
the Ocean Drilling Program and the Deep Sea Drilling
Project. In addition to Michigan, the new members are the
University of California at Santa Cruz, the University of
Florida and Rutgers University.

Over the years, five U-M professors, two research
scientists and a dozen or more students have participated
in research cruises. Faculty have gone to sea 19 times,
serving as chief scientists on four cruises. Research
scientists have joined 12 drilling cruises, and students
have gone along on 16 voyages. Of the 250 institutions
that have participated in the project since 1985, the U-M
ranks ninth in level of participation. “Only the major
oceanographic institutions have had more people involved,”
says Rea.

In 1992, for example, Rea was chief scientist on a
cruise that spanned the north Pacific, from Yokohama,
Japan, to Victoria, British Columbia. He and two other
researchers—Ted Moore, U-M professor of geological
sciences, and Mitch Lyle of Boise State University in
Idaho—are planning another project for the fall of 2001.
By taking samples from series of sites, they hope to better
understand atmospheric and oceanic circulation patterns
that were operating at the equator during a very warm
period in the early Eocene Epoch, some 50 million to 55
million years ago.

“That’s when we know there were palm trees and
alligators in Antarctica and the Arctic,” says Rea. But
for everything scientists know about what lived during
those balmy years, there’s little understanding of the
physical processes that kept the climate so warm. The
puzzle has particular relevance today, with concerns about
the effects of global warming.

“The early Eocene is the closest time in the geologic
past when the Earth was as warm as we think it’s likely to
get with global warming,” says Rea. “So it behooves us to
understand how the atmosphere and ocean work together to
drive that climate system. We just flat-out don’t
understand it, so the goal of our project is to fill one of
the great voids in information.”

In addition to participating on research cruises, U-M
scientists have had important advisory roles with the Ocean
Drilling Program, serving as members of 16 different
advisory panels and as chairs of five of those panels.
Michigan scientists also have served on the editorial
boards of four Ocean Drilling Program Scientific Results
volumes and have written and edited books that synthesized
results of specific drilling projects. Besides being
directly involved in the drilling program, U-M researchers
have garnered millions of dollars in funding to analyze
samples recovered during drilling expeditions. More than
240 reviewed scientific publications and nine books by U-M
authors have been based on information resulting from the
scientific drilling programs.

“Because of our long participation in the program,
Michigan’s role in ocean drilling research is widely
recognized by the international community of earth and
ocean scientists,” says Rea. “Our graduate students have
benefited, too, by participating in the two-month research
cruises. Working 12 hours every day as a contributing
member of an international team of scientists is one of the
finest learning experiences we provide for our students.

“This new level of involvement will allow Michigan
scientists to play a more important role in the governance
of the project and significantly enhance the University’s
visibility and stature as it joins the institutions that
direct this longstanding international effort of the earth
and ocean sciences.”