This 5-year project will install a thermistor array in a new borehole to be drilled on the Norwegian margin near ODP Site 642 in early 2005 as part of a scheduled leg aboard the non-riser IODP platform and will monitor temperatures until the borehole is revisited in 2010. The project represents the first-ever long-term temperature monitoring installation in an oceanic borehole and has the potential to yield insight into the bottom water temperature history of this part of the North Atlantic over the past 100 years. A key advantage of the chosen study site is its proximity to Ocean Weather Station Mike, which has collected the longest existing time series of bottom water temperature and salinity variations. Similar long-term downhole temperature studies in continental settings have advanced understanding of climate change through the analysis of downward propagating anomalies associated with perturbations of surface temperature. The project will enhance the tools available not only for IODP, but also for seafloor ocean observatories initiatives.
