Th or collective redistirbution of any portion article of any by of this or collective redistirbution SPECIAL ISSUE FEATURE articleis has been published in Oceanography D/V Chikyu 19, Number journal of Th 4, a quarterly , Volume RISER OPERATIONS AND THE FUTURE permitted photocopy machine, only is reposting, means or other OF SCIENTIFIC OCEAN DRILLING e Oceanography Society. 2006 by Th Copyright BY DANIEL CUREWITZ AND ASAHIKO TAIRA Earth science disciplines focused on the geological record. erational means by which core recovery, investigation of climatic, ecological, or Advances in scientifi c drilling over the core preservation, borehole stability, with the approval of Th tectonic change as recorded in geological last decade have enabled progressively geophysical measurement, and borehole deposits (e.g., paleoceanography, marine better recovery and greater confi dence in monitoring operations are enhanced us- micropaleontology, paleoclimatology, the fi delity and coherence of recovered ing riser drilling (Sawyer, 1996; Kerr and gran is e Oceanography All rights Society. reserved. Permission paleomagnetism) require high-resolu- sections. The resulting interpretations Normile, 1998; Normile and Kerr, 2003). or Th e Oceanography
[email protected] Send Society. to: all correspondence tion, continuous, well-preserved records and analyses have enhanced the high- for accurate analysis. Recovery of long, resolution short- and long-term records RISER DRILLING BASICS uninterrupted, relatively undisturbed of changes in the Earth system (Brewer Riser drilling involves several steps that sections has long been a primary techni- et al., 2005). are accomplished in a variety of ways de- cal challenge for any drilling operation. The adaptation of riser drilling tech- pending on specifi c technological pack- Recovered cores and geophysical mea- nology for scientifi c ocean drilling pur- ages, water depths, and bottom condi- surements form the backbone for any poses on board the D/V Chikyu (Fig- tions.