A workflow is presented that uses 3D subsurface image (seismic) data to identify and avoid potential geological hazards, in order to increase safety and minimize the risk associated with selecting offshore scientific drilling locations. The workflow has been implemented for a scientific drilling expedition proposal within a challenging region offshore north-western Greenland and resulted in an improved understanding of subsurface hazards and a reduction of risk across all selected drill sites.

Hipercorig is a new modular lake sediment coring instrument based on a barge and a hydraulic corer system driven by a down-the-hole hammer. Hipercorig's performance was tested on the two periglacial lakes, namely Mondsee and Constance, located on the northern edge of the Alpine chain. Up to 63 m of Holocene lake sediments and older meltwater deposits from the last deglaciation were recovered for the first time.

Temperatures of boreholes rise with depth with some reaching ~ 200 °C at their base. Water is found in the deep warm crust where it is altered, providing a potential habitat for microbial life. To advance studies on the Earth's crust, we developed a simple water sampler that is triggered mechanically at temperatures from 80 to 180 °C using shape memory alloys. Laboratory and deep-sea tests were conducted, but hole conditions did not allow its use on IODP Exp. 385T. The sampler is ready for use.

The Haiti-Drill workshop, held in May 2019, further developed an amphibious drilling project in Haiti. During the workshop, we identified research questions, discussed drilling scenarios, identified data and analyses needed, and produced timelines for the work. We aim to understand the nature of fault zones and the evolution of transpressional plate boundaries. Given this aim, drilling targets were then rationalized, creating a focus point for research and survey needs prior to drilling.

Earth has experienced remarkable climate–environmental changes in the last 65 million years. The Weihe Basin with its 6000–8000 m infill of a continuous sedimentary sequence gives a unique continental archive for the study of the Cenozoic environment and exploration of deep biospheres. This workshop report concludes key objectives of the two-phase Weihe Basin Drilling Project and the global significance of reconstructing Cenozoic climate evolution and tectonic–monsoon interaction in East Asia.

A scientific borehole planning workshop sponsored by the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program convened in early 2020 at Cornell University in the NE United States. Cornell plans drilling to test the potential to use geothermal heat from depths of 2700–4500 m and rock temperatures of 60 to 120 °C to heat its campus. The workshop focused on designing companion scientific projects to investigate the coupled thermal–chemical–hydrological–mechanical workings of continental crust.

The events of the Permian — the orogenies, biospheric turnovers, icehouse and greenhouse antitheses, and Mars-analog lithofacies — boggle the imagination and present us with great opportunities to explore Earth system behavior. Here we outline results of workshops to propose continuous coring of continental Permian sections in western (Anadarko Basin) and eastern (Paris Basin) equatorial Pangaea to retrieve continental records spanning 50 Myr of Earth's history.