An international programme initiated in 1963, which resulted in more than 500 boreholes being drilled in the sea bed of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans and the Mediterranean Sea. Until 1975, the programme was financed mainly by the National Science Foundation of America, but subsequently it has received support from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan, and Russia. The managing institution was the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, and the drilling ship used was the Glomar Challenger. The programme evolved into the more ambitious International Programme of Ocean Drilling (IPOD) and now the Integrated Ocean Drilling Programme (ODP).