1112 



166 SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL COOPERATION 



France . France became a member of JOIDES effective November 1 , 

 1975, following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding be- 

 tween NSF and the Centre National pour I'Exploitation des Oceans 

 (CNEXO). The initial 3-year Memorandum has been extended by three 

 amendments that parallel the FRG and U.K. agreements. 



Each of the Memorandums provided the non-U. S. signatory with a 

 number of benefits: membership in the JOIDES Executive and Planning 

 Committees, participation in JOIDES advisory committees, the desig- 

 nation of shipboard scientists, and full access to data and samples. In re- 

 turn, the United States has received annual contributions, initially of $1 

 million per country per year, increasing to $1.25 million in 1980-1981 

 and to $2 million per year in 1982-1983. 



DISCUSSION 



There is virtually unanimous agreement that the DSDP-IPOD drilling 

 program has been an outstanding scientific success. The strong endorse- 

 ment by the community and National Science Board of a new Ocean 

 Drilling Program, to make use of a larger ship, is a measure of this suc- 

 cess. The willingness of non-U. S. JOIDES members to speak in favor of 

 the program and to contribute to IPOD (roughly $50.6 million of S220.6 

 million through ¥Y 1983) has certainly enhanced the credibility of the 

 scientific arguments. 



Benefits 



IPOD has allowed the United States access to the best scientists and 

 ideas in the member countries. Background scientific syntheses, site 

 surveys using geophysical techniques not available in U.S. 

 oceanographic institutions, and postcruise analyses of core material, all 

 at no cost to the project, have greatly augmented U.S. contributions 

 and have led to more effective use of the drilling ship. Less tangible, but 

 no less valuable, are the personal relationships developed at sea and 

 ashore between U.S. and non-U. S. scientific participants. These con- 

 tacts have led to innumerable sabbaticals and study leaves with their in- 

 evitable intellectual synergism. 



The non-U. S. participants, on the other hand, have gained access to a 

 state-of-the-art scientific tool that they could have afforded with great 

 difficulty, if at all, on their own. They have been able to propose scien- 

 tific targets and see them drilled as easily as have their U.S. colleagues. 

 The impact of IPOD can be gauged by the number of non-U. S. IPOD 

 scientists participating in Challenger cruises. Prior to 1975, 63 scientists 



