Thursday, November 20, 1986TThe Battalion/Page 7
1 Ocean research brings
y World scientists to A&M
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By Curtis Culberson
Reporter
Top scientists from around the
orld will meet at Texas A&M to
iscuss Findings from ocean-drilling
0m ; cpedidons as an integral part of the
icean Drilling Program, program
Nation
irector Dr. Philip Rabinowitz says.
The program last week moved
a( | )( itoja new $5 million facility in the
ee j nirersity’s new research park.
s He of the world’s foremost geosci-
of J ex P erts nieet * n this new fa-
,i lity before and after a series of
^Hn-di illing cruises in an effort to
nravel the history of the Earth
s asltft
ersiij,
suppt,
roir samples obtained below the
irface of the ocean bottom.
fj- u * J l fl Bie 60,000-square-foot facility is
I ^'Hlargest and most sophisticated
b°y”Bty in the world for storing and
niching core samples from the
cean floor, Rabinowitz says.
The facility also will serve as world
' s eadquarters for the international
'P^Bram in which world scientists
^ ■take core samples from waters
Dover the globe.
■■•.. A&M won the bid for the project
^^Hthe University of Miami and the
III W ) P S l nst *tute of Oceanography
University of Calif ornia at San
The Scripps Institute for-
(lerly headquartered a similar pro-
jmaS^rani, called the Deep Sea Drilling
ing •reject, which ccjnducted research
co rom 1968-1983.
tveo If Te Ocean Drilling Program is
t In iy far the largest research program
awd igTexas A&M,” Rabinowitz says,
xv .[The 10-year program is the gem
loycetiBhe university’s research pro-
;bu:l:®is, with expenditures reaching
theroibont $30 million per year. A&M is
ski anked 11th in the nation in re-
ina eanh funding with $146.4 million,
inikfl ODP takes about 30 percent of
ip wflamount.
■he program receives interna-
f Hal funding from the U.S. Na-
iai ipnal Science Foundation, Canada,
eS he Federal Republic of Germany,
: 1 |apaii, the United Kingdom, and the
ven Luropean Science Foundation
lx 3cean Drilling Consortium, which
ret insists of 12 other interested Euro-
wo Kan countries.
lemHach of these six members in-
lef /oiled with the program contributes
tier, (2.5 million per year to the pro-
usf grain.
ffilabinowitz says the Soviets will
ere oin the program in January,
auyv ;As science operator for the pro-
(|. gram, A&M can provide a definite
f , idvantage for undergraduate and
graduate students studying the geo-
c jit icjepces, Rabinowitz says.
Hoi, 1 A&M is responsible for operating
sea and staffing the drill ship and ensur-
itig that adequate scientific analyses
are performed on the core samples.
1( |A&M also must provide logistical
n(f and technical support.
P f 0ur responsibilities as science -
A&M to open ODP facility.
University research park
By Curtis Culberson
Reporter
Texas A&M will dedicate the
new world headquarters of the
Ocean Drilling Program Friday at
4 p.m., officially opening the Uni
versity’s new research park on
Discovery Drive, located just west
of the veterinary school.
Board of Regents Chairman
David Eller will present the $5
million facility to University Pres
ident Dr. Frank E. Vandiver.
Dr. Mark Money, vice chan
cellor for research park and cor
porate relations, will give a short
address to open the 434-acre re
search park which is designed to
attract high-tech industry to the
University community.
Michel Halbouty, chairman of
the Geosciences and Earth Re
sources Advisory Council, and
Dr. D. James Baker, president of
Joint Oceanographic Institutions,
Inc., also will speak at the dedica
tion.
Dr. Melvin Friedman, dean of
the College of Geosciences, will
preside over the program and
ODP Director Philip Rabinowitz
will speak on the presentation of
the new program facility.
The new 60,000-square-foot
Ocean Drilling complex is the
world’s largest and most sophis-
cated facility of its kind, Rabino
witz said, and the world’s best fa
cility for studying core samples
taken from below the ocean floor.
Construction already has begun
on a 40,000-square-foot office
and laboratory facility for the re
search park’s first corporate ten
ant, Granada Genetics. A subsid
iary of Granada Corp.
water. All this allows the ship to han
dle a rig which, in turn, can handle
more than 30,000 feet of drill pipe.
Rabinowitz says the ship has seven
stories of laboratories, including a
chemistry lab, an X-ray lab, a petrol
ogy lab and a photography lab.
Rabinowitz adds that the ship has
two mainframe VAX-750 computers
that communicate by satellite with
two other mainframes stationed in
the new program facility.
“The two computer systems com
pletely mirror each other, giving us
vast computer capability,” he says.
The ship already has completed
12 cruises, uncovering new informa
tion about the causes of long-term-
changes in the Earth’s atmosphere,
its oceans, polar regions, biosphere
and magnetic field as well as infor
mation on climate and tectonic evo
lution.
Another 2-month cruise is
planned for January to the Ant
arctic, Rabinowitz says.
After each expedition, the differ
ent scientists who conduct research
in these many different labs publish
their findings in two volumes. The
first volume is an on-site report and
the second will be published several
years later, after more in-depth re
search has been conducted.
“Of course, they’ll be bound in
maroon,” he says.
Rabinowitz says that since the sci
entists will work on their articles at
the new facility, the University will
get worldwide exposure.
“Many (scientists) are surprised
when they see A&M,” he says.
“There’s more down here than most
people think.”
operator give students a chance to
go on drilling cruises and work first
hand with the best geoscientists in
the world,” Rabinowitz says.
“We have a staff of about 160 peo
ple and many are A&M students,”
he says.
A&M also is responsible for deter
mining which scientists will go on
each research cruise.
“We try to get a good representa
tion from all the countries involved,”
Rabinowitz adds.
The program is managed by the
Joint Oceanographic Institutions
Inc., a nonprofit group of 10 major
U.S. oceanographic institutions, in
cluding A&M’s oceanography de
partment.
But it is JOIDES, the Joint Ocean
ographic Institutions for Deep Earth
Sampling, that provides overall
planning and program advice for
the series of scientific cruises.
The JOIDES Resolution, the
ODP’s drilling vessel, is named after
the international group of scientists
and institutions overseeing the pro
gram. The vessel was converted
from a commercial drilling ship into
a sophisticated floating experiment
station.
“The ship underwent many
changes,” Rabinowitz says. “We have
constructed a ship with experimen
tal capabilities that can’t be matched
on land or sea.
“The ship is capable of drilling in
depths over 25,000 ft. while most
commercial drilling vessels can only
go as far as 3,000 (ft.).”
The drilling ship is 470 feet long
and 70 feet wide, with a derrick that |
towers more than 200 feet above the
Harris County legislators offered
oney to attend Metro parties
■ HOUSTON (AP) — Some legis
lators and Common Cause are crit-
j icizing an offer by a Houston Metro
politan Transit Authority lobbyist to
pay Harris County legislators for at
tending Metro cocktail parties.
“H.obbyist Sandy Sanford, hired to
help influence legislators to preserve
Mjetro’s 1-cent sales tax dedication,
told the Houston Post in a copy
righted story Wednesday he expects
■h lawmaker who attends to leave
the meetings $500 richer.
Sanford wrote in an invitation
sent to 33 legislators that money
raised at two upcoming receptions in
Houston will be divided among their
office-holder accounts, funds used
to defray expenses associated with
legislative business.
State Rep. Randy Pennington, R-
Houston, said he declined Sanford’s
invitation and said his colleagues
should be more than uneasy about it.
“They should be incensed,” he
said. “It’s such an outright attempt
to buy special interest from the Leg
islature.”
Of seven legislators contacted
Tuesday by the Post, only Rep. Tony
Polumbo, D-Houston, was uncon
cerned, saying he believes the meet
ing is a crucial one.
MTA board Chairman John King
said he does not consider the money
payment for attendance.
The 300 to 400 invitations in
cluded a request for a $500 gift.
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