Integrated Ocean Drilling Programme

The Integrated Ocean Drilling Programme (IODP), started in 2003, is an international marine research programme that explores Earth’s history and structure recorded in seafloor sediments and rocks, and monitors sub-seafloor environments. IODP builds on the earlier successes of the Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) in 1968–1984 and the Ocean Drilling Programme (ODP) in 1985–2003. IODP greatly expands the reach of these previous programmes by, for example, aiming at improved multidisciplinarity.

IODP is open to researchers from all IODP member countries. The researchers may submit drilling proposals and apply for expedition participation.

The Academy of Finland pays the annual membership fee by which Finland is a partner in the European Consortium for Ocean Research Drilling (ECORD), and thus a member of IODP. The programme has 21 members: Austria, Belgium, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, USA and Canada.

Key Finnish researchers in the field have also set up a national IODP support group. The support group’s task is to help Finnish scientists, students and engineers to participate and obtain material from expeditions and to benefit from the results and technological advances of the programme.