The International Ocean Discovery Program’s Science Plan covers a 10-year period of operation and highlights four main themes, each encompassing a short list of high-priority scientific challenges. These themes are: 

1. Climate and Ocean Change: Reading the Past, Informing the Future
2. Biosphere Frontiers: Deep Life, Biodiversity, and Environmental Forcing of Ecosystems
3. Earth Connections: Deep Processes and Their Impact on Earth’s Surface Environment
4. Earth in Motion: Processes and Hazards on Human Time Scales

Constant endeavours of IODP are aimed at resolving the challenges posed by these diverse environmental issues.

For more information, visit http://www.iodp.org/Science-Plan-for-2013-2023