Costs to keep ocean drilling ship in port

摘要

An international effort to explore the little-known depths below the ocean floor is heading into choppy waters. Last week, the US branch of the 24-nation Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) received guidance on its budget allocation from the US National Science Foundation, one of the project's two main funders (the other being the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology). No cuts are anticipated to the US share of the project's budget, but a rise in fuel costs of more than 30% since the end of 2010 means that in the 2012 fiscal year the US drilling ship the JOIDES Resolution is expected to be at sea for only six months. It needs eight months to complete its four scheduled expeditions, so one project - to drill into the tectonic area off the southern coast of Alaska next summer - has been postponed.