A number of exceptional postcruise studies have resulted from ODP Leg 177 thus far and have advanced our goal of documenting the paleoceanographic history of the southeast Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean on tectonic to millennial timescales. Here, we have summarized the results that have been produced in the 4 yr elapsed since Leg 177. Many exciting results are forthcoming from ongoing studies, and we are confident that the superb sediments recovered during Leg 177 will serve as raw material for paleoceanographic research for years to come. One of the rationales for drilling Leg 177 sites was the relative paucity of sedimentary sequences available from the Southern Ocean that were suitable for high-resolution paleoceanographic studies. Although Leg 177 fills a critical gap in the distribution of Southern Ocean sites, we emphasize the need to drill additional north-south transects across the ACC in different sectors of the Southern Ocean. The Antarctic circumpolar region covers a wide area and studies of piston cores from the last glacial period indicate that other sectors of the Southern Ocean may have responded differently than the Atlantic (Ninnemann and Charles, 1997). These results underscore the need for additional drilling in the high southern latitudes, and we look forward to a speedy return of the riserless drilling vessel to the Southern Ocean under the new Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP).