The JOIDES Resolution will venture into the Pacific on its first expedition since it was refurbished. Click on image for full size (100 Kb) Image Courtesy of the National Science Foundation

In early March, an international team of scientists will set sail aboard the drill ship JOIDES Resolution on the first of two Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) expeditions to the equatorial Pacific Ocean.

The second expedition will follow immediately afterward in May. Both are grouped into one science program, known as the Pacific Equatorial Age Transect (PEAT).

The results will lead to a clearer understanding of Earth's climate over the past 55 million years--a vital component to knowing what future course the planet's climate will take, scientists believe.

"These expeditions focused on climate change come at a critical time," said Julie Morris, director of the National Science Foundation (NSF)'s Division of Ocean Sciences, which supports IODP. "During the next year, sea-floor drilling related to climate change will happen from pole to pole."

The PEAT expeditions aim to recover a continuous Cenozoic record (from 65.5 million years ago to the present) of sediments beneath the equatorial Pacific Ocean. Geologists will drill into the crust on the Pacific tectonic plate along the equator.

The first research effort, Expedition 320, is planned for March 5 through May 5, 2009; Expedition 321 will take place from May 5 through July 5, 2009.

Co-chief scientists of Expedition 320 are Heiko Palike of the University of Southampton, U.K., and Hiroshi Nishi of Hokkaido University in Japan; of Expedition 321, Mitch Lyle of Texas A&M University in the U.S., and Isabella Raffi of the Universita "G. D'Annunzio" Campus Universitario in Italy.

Earlier scientific ocean drilling expeditions to the equatorial Pacific yielded discoveries about past climate conditions and the past position of the Pacific tectonic plate relative to the equator.

However, they did not obtain continuous sediment records the two PEAT expeditions will recover seafloor sediment cores with an unbroken record.

"The cores will help us understand how and why productivity in the Pacific changed over time," said Morris, "and provide information about rapid biological evolution and turnover during times of climatic stress."

The equatorial Pacific is a major center of solar warming, a region of high productivity, and a primary region for carbon dioxide exchange from the deep ocean to the atmosphere.

It is also the source region for the El Niño-Southern Oscillation phenomenon. The equatorial Pacific also helps maintain global climates, and drives climate change.

Over the last 55 million years, global climate has varied dramatically from extreme warmth to glacial cold. These climate variations have been imprinted on the biogenic-rich sediments that accumulated in the equatorial zone.

Information from the PEAT expeditions will help scientists understand how Earth was able to maintain very warm climates relative to the 20th century, even though solar radiation received at the earth's surface has remained nearly constant for the last 55 million years.

Text above is courtesy of the National Science Foundation

The JOIDES Resolution will venture into the Pacific on its first expedition since it was refurbished. Click on image for full size (100 Kb) Image Courtesy of the National Science Foundation

An international team of scientists is currently studying the equatorial Pacific Ocean, and a second expedition will happen in May 2009. They are part of a science program called the Pacific Equatorial Age Transect (PEAT). While aboard the JOIDES Resolution, the scientists will be drilling into the crust of the Pacific tectonic plate along the equator in order to gather sediments from the ocean floor that can give them a record of the Cenozoic Era (from 65.5 million years ago to the present).

The scientists believe the results they get from their research will give them a clearer understanding of the Earth's past climate, which is vital to knowing what the climate will be in the future.

The equatorial Pacific is a complex region that impacts the Earth's climate in many ways. This region is affected by solar warming and is one of the main regions where carbon dioxide transfers from the deep ocean to the atmosphere. The equatorial Pacific is also where the El Niño-Southern Oscillation begins.

Over the last 55 million years, global climate has varied dramatically from extreme warmth to glacial cold. These climate variations have been recorded in the ocean sediments on the ocean floor of the equatorial Pacific. Information from these expeditions will help scientists understand how Earth was able to maintain very warm climates relative to the 20th century, even though solar radiation received at the Earth's surface has remained nearly constant for the last 55 million years.

The JOIDES Resolution will venture into the Pacific on its first expedition since it was refurbished. Click on image for full size (100 Kb) Image Courtesy of the National Science Foundation

A team of scientists is out in the Pacific Ocean by the equator in order to collect sediment cores from the ocean floor. The sediment cores contain information about the Earth's past climate that will help the scientists determine what the climate will be like in the future.

The equatorial Pacific is a complicated region that affects the Earth's climate in many ways. The Sun warms the ocean here, this is one of the main regions where carbon dioxide transfers from the deep ocean to the atmosphere.

Over the last 55 million years, the global climate has gone through different periods of being extremely warm and extremely cold. Information on these past climates is contained in sediments on the ocean floor, and information scientists get from this expedition will help them understand how the Earth has become so warm and cold in the past.