Scientific drillships allow scientists access to some of Earth's most challenging environments, collecting data and samples of sediment, rock, fluids, and living organisms from below the seafloor. A long running international collaboration in scientific ocean drilling has transformed human understanding of our planet, addressing fundamental questions about Earth's dynamic history, processes, and structure. The growth of scientific ocean drilling as a research technique has led to the development of new tools and methodologies and has fostered enduring international collaborations in research, education, and public engagement. 

1940: Advancement in Piston Coring

Advances in piston coring in the 1940s allowed research ships to routinely recover long sediment sections from the seafloor. These ocean bottom sediments, accumulating slowly over geologic time, contain microscopic fossils whose chemistry is a proxy for ancient ocean conditions. Piston coring was used on expeditions such as the worldwide cruise of the Swedish research vessel Albatross to begin studying the rich and varied planetary history captured at the bottom of the world's oceans. 

1961: Project MoHole

In 1961 when dynamic positioning was successfully used to keep the drilling platform CUSS on target in strong current, scientific drilling took root as a feasible technology to study Earth's subseafloor geology. Project Mohole, a concept proposed to the US National Science Foundation, considered the feasibility of drilling through the geological boundary identified by an abrupt change in rock physical parameters (Mohorovičić discontinuity) that marks the transition from thin oceanic crust to the mantle, Earth's main interior layer.

1966-1983: Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP)

The next phase of scientific ocean drilling, the Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP 1966-1983), began in 1966 using the Drilling Vessel Glomar Challenger. This pioneering vessel conducted drilling and coring operations in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans as well as the Mediterranean and Red Seas. The Glomar Challenger also advanced the technology of deep-ocean drilling.

1983-2003: Ocean Drilling Program (ODP)

In 1985, the JOIDES Resolution replaced the Glomar Challenger at the start of the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP 1983-2003). ODP was truly an international cooperative effort to explore and study the composition and structure of the Earth's subseafloors. The JOIDES Resolution conducted 110 expeditions for ODP at 2000 drill holes located throughout the world's ocean basins.

2003-2013: Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP)

The Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP 2003-2013) built upon the international partnerships and scientific success of the DSDP and ODP by employing multiple drilling platforms financed by the contributions from 26 participating nations. These platforms - a refurbished JOIDES Resolution, the new marine-riser equipped Japanese Deep Sea Drilling Vessel Chikyu, and specialized Mission-Specific-Platforms - were used to reach new areas of the global subsurface during 52 expeditions. The IODP 2003-2013 Legacy Document Archive contains reports, minutes, and other documents from the program's panels and advisory bodies.

2013-2024: International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP)

Since in October 2013, the IODP partners have continued their collaboration via the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP). Read more about the science, operations, and structure of the current IODP throughout iodp.org. 

1. The International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) is an international research collaboration that addresses important questions in Earth, ocean, environmental and life sciences based on drill cores, borehole imaging, observatory data, and related geophysical imaging obtained from beneath the ocean floor using specialized ocean-going drilling and research platforms.
 
2. IODP collaboration is further elaborated in Memoranda of Understanding that establish partnerships between platform providers and nations that help to fund the research platforms.
 
3. IODP investigations are based on research proposals that address objectives described in the program’s guiding document the IODP Science Plan Illuminating Earth's Past, Present, and Future or other outstanding new research ideas.
 
4. IODP proposals are reviewed by advisory panels composed of international representatives. The panels provide independent advice to IODP platform operators on science quality, feasibility, safety, and environmental issues. IODP proposals for scientific ocean drilling, including workshop proposals, are evaluated in a fair and unbiased manner that avoids conflicts of interests. The advisory panels are overseen by the JOIDES Resolution Facility Board but serve all IODP drilling and research platforms.
 
5. Decisions on the scheduling of expeditions are made by Facility Boards that provide operational and management oversight of the IODP drilling platforms (JOIDES Resolution Facility Board, Chikyu IODP Board, and ECORD Facility Board). Each Facility Board is the policy-making body for the drilling and research platform it oversees while the platform is engaged in IODP expeditions. Facility Boards strive toward common IODP procedures and policies where practical and within the limits of resource availability.
 
6. The intellectual property of any scientific proposal submitted to the program belongs to the proposal authors (proponents) until a proposal is scheduled for drilling as part of an IODP expedition. At that time, the program acquires the right to publish the proposal and conduct the science. Every effort will be made by the program to recognize the intellectual efforts of the proponents.
 
7. IODP expeditions will be undertaken by international teams of scientists selected by the platform operator in accordance with Memoranda of Understanding between the participating nations that fund the research platforms. Staffing decisions will, as far as possible, take into account the intellectual contributions made by the original proponents and the goal of achieving diversity within the science party.
 
8. IODP expeditions are intended to have no significant environmental impact and are carried out in conformance with the highest accepted levels of environmental sensitivity as further explained in the IODP Environmental Principles.
 
9. IODP policies, procedures, recommendations, and minutes of meetings are openly available to the public within the limits of the program’s confidentiality policies for proposals, samples, and data.
 
10. IODP will provide open access to all expedition samples and data once the members of the expedition science party have had a reasonable opportunity to complete their initial studies within an established moratorium period (typically one year).
 
11. After the expiration of the data moratorium, the program will publish a detailed account of all findings, core and borehole details, data acquired during the expedition, and make all samples and cores (working halves) available to any scientist with a sound scientific proposal and proven facilities to conduct the proposed science in accordance with the IODP Sample, Data, and Obligations Policy. 

Program Member Offices (PMOs) manage and fund the participation of researchers working in a member country or consortium in IODP activities. PMOs nominate scientists for IODP expeditions and to serve on IODP boards and panels. They are generally responsible for broadening national interest and participation in IODP research opportunities within their countries. An individual scientist's PMO is determined by the location of his or her employer or primary academic affiliation, not by citizenship or adjunct status. 

While the focus of each PMO is on their member country or consortium, there are activities and discussions that benefit from broader discussion and coordination. The PMOs meet occasionally to discuss topics that are of interest to more than one member country or consortium. Typically these meetings are held in conjunction with the yearly IODP Forum Meeting, but also occur informally at other times.