Using sequential art to communicate scientific ocean drilling

Scientific ocean drilling offers a unique window into Earth processes that cannot be accessed through surface observations alone, but its remote offshore setting and technical complexity pose challenges for public communication. International drilling programs such as the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) and the International Ocean Drilling Programme (IODP³) are also inherently multinational and multilingual, yet these collaborative dimensions are not always reflected in expedition outreach materials.

This presentation introduces Chikyu Chronicles, a two-volume comics-based outreach project developed for IODP Expeditions 405 and 502E in the Japan Trench. The project uses illustrated sequential narratives to communicate shipboard science, engineering workflows, and everyday expedition life to middle-grade audiences while remaining grounded in real people, roles, and practices. Rather than emphasizing scientific results, the comics focus on portraying scientific ocean drilling as a collaborative activity shaped by operational constraints and teamwork. Each volume combines comics with book back matter designed to extend engagement beyond the narrative. Photographic sections document shipboard spaces, tools, and activities, allowing readers to connect simplified illustrations they have encountered in the book to physical environments and scale. Activity-based back matter invites participation through creative and interpretive exercises, including making science comics and identifying plate boundary patterns using multiple geophysical and geological datasets. Together, these elements form a hybrid communication model that supports place-making and causal reasoning.

Production of Chikyu Chronicles was embedded within the expedition environment and extended after sailing through distributed collaboration. Expedition participants contributed through interviews, reference materials, scientific review, editorial feedback, and translation assistance, ensuring linguistic accuracy and contextual fidelity without separating communication from scientific practice. Reported outcomes so far are qualitative and formative, drawing on informal feedback and basic reach metrics from real-time dissemination during Expedition 405, with structured audience evaluation currently underway. The project illustrates how comics-based outreach can align communication practices with the collaborative realities of international geoscience research.