Earth science disciplines focused on investigation of climatic, ecological, or tectonic change as recorded in geological deposits (e.g., paleoceanography, marine micropaleontology, paleoclimatology, paleomagnetism) require high-resolution, continuous, well-preserved records for accurate analysis. Recovery of long, uninterrupted, relatively undisturbed sections has long been a primary technical challenge for any drilling operation. Recovered cores and geophysical measurements form the backbone for any further data collection and data analysis. Limitations on core recovery, core condition, and sample preservation have long been recognized as serious challenges for any reconstructions or interpretations of the geological record.

Curewitz, D., and A. Taira. 2006. D/V Chikyu: Riser operations and the future of scientific ocean drilling. Oceanography 19(4):168–172, https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2006.15.

This is an open access article made available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution, and reproduction in any medium or format as long as users cite the materials appropriately, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate the changes that were made to the original content. Images, animations, videos, or other third-party material used in articles are included in the Creative Commons license unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If the material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission directly from the license holder to reproduce the material.