NSF Shortens Drilling Season

Abstract

A funding crunch is forcing the National Science Foundation (NSF) to shorten by 4 months annual deep-sea drilling operations beginning in 2009, according to Steven Bohlen of the Joint Oceanographic Institutions (JOI), the NSF-funded operator of the U.S. drill ship JOIDES Resolution. “Our operating costs are well beyond what we anticipated,” he says, due to the escalating costs of ship fuel, drilling gear, and maintenance. Add in NSF's commitments to support ocean-observing systems and non-drilling-ship operations, and “there are not sufficient funds to support the drill ship for science for the entire year,” says Bohlen. JOI will be pursuing work with petroleum companies and other science agencies that Bohlen hopes will fill in the looming gaps. “We're definitely scrambling here. We're worried,” he says. “Is it a big deal?” says Terry Schaff, director of government relations with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts. “It would be good if there was enough funds to run it for a whole year,” he says. But most ships that run U.S. academic oceanographic research run between 250 and 300 days a year, he points out. “Most of the ships haven't run a full year for a while. It's not a terribly unusual situation.”