Science Links

Ridge Programs

Ridge 2000
Ridge 2000 is an interdisciplinary research program in the USA - sponsored by NSF - focused on integrated studies of Earths oceanic spreading centers.

To go directly to R2K MediaBank: image gallery.
To go directly to visualizations of the R2K ISS's: Ridge View.

DeRidge
German Mid-Ocean Ridge Research

InterRidge China
Introducing InterRidge sciences to the Chinese community

JAMSTEC databases
A Japanese institution committed to the improvement of marine science and technology.

NEPTUNE Canada
The world's first regional-scale underwater ocean observatory network

MoMAR
The MOMAR (“Monitoring the Mid-Atlantic Ridge”) project was initiated by the international InterRidge Programme, to study active mid-ocean ridge processes along a slow-spreading ridge segment. The goal is to promote and establish a coordinated and multidisciplinary long-term study of hydrothermal environments at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) near the Azores (35°N to 40°N).

MARGINS
The MARGINS Program focuses on the coordinated, interdisciplinary investigation of four fundamental initiatives; the Seismogenic Zone Experiment, the Subduction Factory, Rupturing Continental Lithosphere, and Sediment Dynamics and Strata Formation (Source to Sink).

InterMARGINS
InterMARGINS is an international and interdisciplinary initiative concerned with all aspects of continental margins research. It is designed to encourage scientific and logistical co-ordination, with particular focus on problems that cannot be addressed as efficiently by nations or national institutions acting alone or in limited partnerships.

Geological

IODP - The Integrated Ocean Drilling Program
The Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) is an international research program that explores the history and structure of the Earth as recorded in seafloor sediments and rocks. IODP builds upon the earlier successes of the Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) and Ocean Drilling Program (ODP), which revolutionized our view of Earth history and global processes through ocean basin exploration.

SOPAC - Pacific Islands Geosciences Commission
SOPAC, the Pacific Islands Applied Geoscience Commission is an inter-governmental, regional organisation dedicated to providing products and services in three technical programme areas of: Community Lifelines; Community Risk; and Ocean and Islands. Its Secretariat is based in Suva, Fiji.

Biological

ChEss
Biogeography of Deep-Water Chemosynthetic Ecosystems. ChEss is a global study of the distribution, abundance and diversity of species in deep-water hydrothermal vents, cold seeps and other chemosynthetic ecosystems for the Census of Marine Life initiative.

CAREX
Coordination Action for Research Activities on life in Extreme Environments

MAR-ECO
Patterns and processes of ecosystems of the Northern mid-Atlantic

Handbook of Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Vent Fauna - Now available ONLINE
Photographic Identification Guide to Larvae at Hydrothermal Vents

General

ISA - International Seabed Authority
The International Seabed Authority is an autonomous international organization established under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the 1994 Agreement relating to the Implementation of Part XI of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The ISA will organize and control activities beyond the limits of each nation's national juristiction, particularly with a view to administering the resources of the Area.
ISA's Central Data Repository, including GIS maps, bibliographic database and glossary.

SCOR - Scientific Commission on Oceanic Research
Recognition that scientific questions about the ocean often require an interdisciplinary approach led the International Council for Science (ICSU) to form the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) in 1957. SCOR was the first interdisciplinary body formed by ICSU.

Consortium for Ocean Leadership
In 2007, the Joint Oceanographic Institutions (JOI) merged with the Consortium for Oceanographic Research and Education (CORE) to form the Consortium for Ocean Leadership.