Timeline
of a scientific drilling project
As one of the most important comprehensive services, data and sample management is a long-term task which covers the whole period of the expedition. Therefore data management deserves constant attention on behalf of the project management and the science team.
The period of the expedition starts with rig-up for the first hole, and ends with the completion of the operational report. During that time, most of the initial data are collected, such as monitoring data and reports of all parameters related to drilling operations, material recovered from the wellhole, initial measurements, descriptions and documentation of that material, down hole logging data, sampling, …
In most cases, not all of these tasks can be done on-site while drilling, because environmental conditions are often too harsh, and there is simply no space available. Thus, often the expedition is divided into several phases. Drilling operations can be separated from lab work by a long time, because of the complex logistics of transferring the sample material from the sites to the target lab, as shown above by the yellow cone in the figure.