NANSEN ARCTIC DRILLING PROGRAM NEWS
The Nansen Arctic Drilling Program (NADP) Executive Committee met in
Bremerhaven on 6 and 7 September 1997 and decided to reorganize. In the
future the three current NADP Committees (Executive, Science and
Technology) will be replaced by a single NADP Committee. In addition,
NADP will establish several Regional Planning Groups (RPG) which will
have both scientific and technical expertise and will be charged with
bringing out mature drilling proposals for the areas of NADP's
interests. Currently NADP expects to establish RPGs for drilling in:
the Laptev Sea, the MacKenzie Delta, the Yermak Plateau, the Morris
Jessup Rise, the Chukchi Borderland, the Lomonosov Ridge and the
Alpha-Mendeleev Ridge.
In discussions at Bremerhaven it became clear that national funding
agencies appear to be more sympathetic to proposals for particular
projects rather than for continuing support. As a result, we expect the
drilling proposals brought forth by the RPGs to form the basis for
proposals for project support by NADP members when the RPG's drilling
proposals have been brought to a sufficiently mature state.
The Ocean Drilling Program has agreed to establish a Program Planning
Group for Arctic Drilling. NADP will submit their drilling proposals to
the ODP PPG for their consideration and for introduction into the ODP
panel system. We will be supplying site survey and safety packages for
ODP approval via the ODP PPG.
We hope to have the new NADP Committee formed by 1 January 1998 and to
meet in May in Fairbanks in close conjunction with the next meeting of
the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC). While we do not
expect to become an IASC project, we believe that we should keep them
informed. At this meeting, the NADP Committee will formally establish
the RPGs.
Dr. Garry Brass,
Chairman NADP Executive Committee
Phone (703) 525-0111
FAX (703) 525-0114
e-mail g.brass [at] arctic.gov