Wise and Janecek OPP 9710358 This award supports the activities of a committee of marine geologists, designated SHALDRIL (shallow drilling), to investigate the technical feasibility of installing a shallow drilling system on vessels of the US Antarctic Program (USAP). The committee held an organizational meeting in December, 1996, at which it discussed several existing systems that might be suitable for use on USAP vessels. Some of the systems are still in development, but two seemed particularly promising for use in Antarctic waters. These are 1) The Dolphin in situ sampling and testing system by Fugro McClelland Marine Geosciences, Inc., Houston, Texas, and 2) the Terrabor system developed by A/S Terrabor-Namsos in collaboration with the Institute of Solid Earth Geophysics-Bergen, both located in Norway. The SHALDRIL committee plans to hold a workshop in late August, 1997, to further evaluate these drilling systems with a goal of field testing one or more of them on USAP ships in the near future. Prior to the August workshop, however, an technical evaluation of the suitability and feasibility of installing these systems on the USAP ships Nathaniel B. Palmer and L. M. Gould must be carried out by a professional engineer. With that information in hand, the committee can then consider recommending future field tests and eventually field studies. This award provides funds to support the SHALDRIL committee's activities during 1997, namely to 1) commission the engineering study of the candidate drilling systems, and 2) to cover the costs of its meeting in late August. This meeting is expected to be held in or near Tallahassee, Florida, over a three day period.
