was responsible for its own platform operations and performance, its science operations was funded by the lead agencies. The operators conducted the following expeditions during the IODP: Drilling vessels and platforms IODP employed two dedicated drilling vessels, each sponsored by a lead agency and managed by their respective implementing organization: JOIDES Resolution – riserless The U.S.-sponsored drilling vessel was operated throughout the Ocean Drilling Program and the first phase of IODP. The vessel then underwent a rebuild, allowing for increased laboratory space; improved drilling, coring, and sampling capacity; and enhanced health, safety, and environmental protection systems on board. Chikyū – riser-equipped Japan began building a state-of-the-art scientific drilling vessel for research in 2001 with the intent of reaching Earth's mantle and drilling into an active seismogenic zone. The resulting drilling vessel, Chikyū (Japanese for "Planet Earth") features a riser drilling system, a dynamic positioning system, and a high-density mud circulation system to prevent borehole collapse during drilling, among other assets. Chikyu can berth 150 people, cruise at , and drill more than below the seafloor in water depths exceeding . Chikyū was damaged during the tsunami of 11 March 2011, and was out-of-service for several months. Chikyū returned to ocean drilling in April 2012. Mission-specific platforms ECORD commissioned ships on an expedition-by-expedition basis, depending on specific scientific requirements and environment. ECORD contracted the use of three icebreakers for the Arctic Coring Expedition (2004), drilling vessels diving for use in shallow Tahitian (2005) and Australian waters (2010), where scientists sampled fossil coral reefs to investigate the rise in global sea levels since the last ice age, and a liftboat for sampling the New Jersey Shallow Shelf (2009). Mission-specific expeditions required substantial flexibility. Extending IODP to the science community Publications, data management, online tools, and databases are in development to support information- and resource-sharing, so as to expand the ranks of scientists who engage in ocean drilling investigations. Publication and data management IODP publications are freely available online and a data management system integrates core and laboratory data collected by all three implementing organizations and the two IODP legacy programs. A web-based search system will eventually aggregate post-expedition data and related publications. Requests for data and samples can be made online. Site Survey Data Bank (SSDB) A web-based Site Survey Data Bank enabled proponents to access and deposit the large amounts of data required to document potential drill sites for evaluation. This