Methane gas bubbles rise from the seafloor – this type of activity, originally noticed by NOAA Ship in 2012 on a multibeam sonar survey, is what led scientists to the area. Images courtesy Deepwater Canyons 2013 – Pathways to the Abyss expedition, NOAA-OER/BOEM/USGS.

It was the broad extent of mussels covering the seafloor that immediately struck scientists as remarkable. A bright orange crab scuttled over the bed of mussels, and a rockling fish rested in a small crevice between clusters of shells. Nearby, seep-associated shrimps (alvinocarids) swam around the actively venting and bubbling methane at several crevices and cracks in the seafloor.

This was the scene first glimpsed by humans on May 8, at one of only a few gas seeps known to exist on the U.S. Atlantic outer continental shelf north of Cape Hatteras.  Roughly a mile below the ocean surface, the seep is located just south of Norfolk Canyon, one of several deepwater canyons found about 70 miles or more east of Virginia and Maryland. Scientists encountered it while on an expedition aboard the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Ship Ronald H. Brown, as they explored the floor of the canyon with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute’s remotely operated vehicle named Jason2.

The team was working on Deepwater Atlantic Canyons, a project jointly funded by the U.S. Geological Survey, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and NOAA. They decided to search out this location after the NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer mapped the sea floor in the vicinity of Norfolk Canyon last November with multi-beam sonar. Sonar is used to identify possible hard bottom habitats, which are often ‘hotspots’ of deep-sea life. At this site, a trail of continuous bubbles rising from the seafloor to the ocean surface provided a tell-tale sign of a gas seep and raised questions about whether it supported a living community.

A vast new community

Visually, the community was dominated by Bathymodiolus mussels, a type of mussel known from cold seeps and hydrothermal vents that harbor symbiotic bacteria in their gills that convert seeping chemicals to food. These bacteria were so dense they formed “mats” – a dense, dull gray carpet visible amongst the mussels. The clusters of Bathymodiolus mussels included different sizes, suggesting there may be both adults and juveniles present. The full spatial extent of the community has not been estimated, but initial observations suggest it is among the largest known cold seep-supported communities in U.S. waters.

Remotely operated vehicle Jason2 sampling a sea urchin in a deep sea mussel community found near a gas seep on the U.S. outer continental shelf. Image courtesy Deepwater Canyons 2013 – Pathways to the Abyss expedition, NOAA-OER/BOEM/USGS.

At cold seeps, fluids and gases such as methane are emitted from the seafloor. Not all gas seeps support living communities, making the May 8^th discovery a novel find. Unlike familiar terrestrial food webs based on the sun’s energy, seeps can support food webs based on chemical energy – known as “chemosynthetic” communities. To investigate this one, scientists collected samples of the mussels and smaller animals on the seafloor, as well as the long filaments of bacteria attached to them. In two dives with the ROV, they collected samples from active and inactive areas of the seep region – including water samples, living and dead mussel shells, bacterial mats, and invertebrates. They are still sorting and identifying the samples and it is not yet clear whether all these species are known to science.

Scientists also took cores of nearby mud, which hosts small, hard-to-see invertebrate animals that are an important part of deep-sea food chains, to conduct tests that help them link different parts of the food web together.  Next, researchers trawled nearby for fish and other life forms that live in proximity to the seep site. The data will help them piece together the site’s food web and test the extent to which methane, sulfur, and other energy sources support life in and around the seep.

Several species known from other cold seeps appear to be absent. Missing from view were the large tubeworm colonies, deep-sea clams (vesicomyids), and cake urchins known to occur at other seeps, including Atlantic seeps found in even deeper water offshore of the Carolinas at Cape Fear and Blake Ridge Diapirs. Microbial life at this seep site may also differ as much as the more visible life forms. Preliminary analysis of samples collected last summer from nearby Baltimore Canyon suggests that the bacterial mats of Atlantic deep-water canyon seeps may be different from those found in the Gulf.

Mile-deep mission

This month’s expedition – dubbed “Pathways to the Abyss” – included a multi-organizational science team.   The team included researchers from: BOEM; NOAA; USGS; University of North Carolina at Wilmington; Florida State University; CSA Ocean Sciences, Inc.; Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution; Texas A&M University; Netherlands Institute of Sea Research; Oregon Institute of Marine Biology; University of Rhode Island; University of Louisiana at Lafayette; and Bangor University.

Most of the team (listed on the cruise blog) has worked on deep-sea ecosystems in the Gulf of Mexico, where their partnership won them an award from the National Ocean Partnership Program.  Collaboration is an important way to lower the costs of such challenging scientific discoveries — challenges so difficult they have been compared to space exploration — by allowing scientists to leverage resources and skills. They also share intimately in the process of scientific discovery with complimentary scientific expertise.  Scientists on board oversee separate, yet closely intertwined, studies that enable them to piece together the complex ecology of these unique deep sea chemosynthetic ecosystems from the jigsaw puzzle of individual research questions.

A lithodid crab seen on a bed of deep sea mussels living near a gas seep 1,600 meters below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean. Image courtesy Deepwater Canyons 2013 – Pathways to the Abyss expedition, NOAA-OER/BOEM/USGS.

The USGS mission on this expedition is to advance understanding of the Nation’s deep-sea ecosystems – including the mysterious new community found this month. Four USGS scientists – Amanda Demopoulos, Christina Kellogg, Cheryl Morrison and Nancy Prouty – are heading up projects on this expedition looking at life in sediments, food-web connectivity, microbial ecology, genetic connectivity, and paleobiology.

By comparing the communities from the recent discovery to other seeps, scientists will be able to place this new community into a broader ecological context. Bacterial mats and sediments can all provide important information about the source of energy in these food webs. Mussel shells can be used to analyze how past environmental conditions and energy sources have changed or fluctuated over time, while their soft tissues can be used to genetically identify species and their bacterial symbionts. One critical question is whether – and how – they are related to those found elsewhere in the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. These studies will strengthen our understanding of how life in these communities survives, reproduces, disperses, and interacts with other communities in the deep sea. This provides information on their sustainability and resilience to disturbances that can be used by decision-makers to develop future policies for their management.

Watch the daily blogs from the expedition.

Methane hydrate is sometimes called “the ice that burns” because the warming hydrates release enough methane to sustain a flame. Photo Credit: USGS

A new project in Japan is helping scientists make significant progress in studying gas hydrates as a potential source for natural gas production. This research advances understanding of the global distribution of gas hydrates as well as whether and how methane contained in gas hydrates can be used as a viable energy source.

The collaboration continues a long-standing relationship between national methane hydrates research programs in Japan and the U.S., but represents the first time that U.S. researchers have been directly involved in studying Japanese gas hydrate samples. In the current phase of this project, an international group of scientists from Japan, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) are employing cutting-edge technology and studying rare gas hydrate samples recovered deep beneath the seafloor.

What are Gas Hydrates?

Gas hydrates are a naturally occurring, solid form of methane gas combined with water. They sequester large amounts of methane, making them a potentially significant source for natural gas around the world.

To give more detail, gas hydrates are an ice-like substance formed when methane—and sometimes other gases—combine with water at specific pressure and temperature conditions. Gas hydrates are widespread in marine sediments beneath the ocean floor and in sediments within and beneath permafrost areas. These pressure-temperature conditions keep the gas hydrate “stable,” meaning it is intact and gasses are contained in its solid form.

Premier Research in Japan Enhances Understanding in the U.S.

A multiyear, premier research program in deepwater gas hydrate exploration and production is currently underway in Japan. Last year, Japanese researchers used innovative technology to retrieve and preserve sediment samples containing gas hydrates. These samples were obtained from layers beneath the deep seafloor in the Nankai Trough offshore Japan.

Such well-preserved samples are extremely rare. They are preserved as “pressure cores,” with the gas hydrates kept as if they were still at the natural conditions in the subsurface where they formed. Gas hydrates are only stable at certain pressures and temperatures, and scientists have been working since the 1990s on sophisticated techniques to retrieve and preserve samples.

The program is being led by the Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC) and Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST). The project is being conducted in collaboration with the USGS Gas Hydrates Project and researchers from the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Georgia Tech. This project is one component of an ongoing Japanese collaboration on methane hydrate research with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Gulf of Mexico Gas Hydrate Joint Industry Project (JIP).

Photograph of the international team studying gas hydrates in Japan. Front row, kneeling: Jun Yoneda (AIST). Front row, standing, left to right: Yoshihiro Konno (AIST), Jiro Nagao (AIST), Marco Terzariol (Georgia Tech), William Winters (USGS), Junbong Jang (Georgia Tech), Kiyofumi Suzuki (JOGMEC), Sheng Dai (Georgia Tech), Tetsuya Fujii (JOGMEC), and Emile Bergeron (USGS). Back row, standing, left to right: William Waite (USGS), Efthymios Papadopoulos (Georgia Tech), David Mason (USGS), and Carlos Santamarina (Georgia Tech). Photo Credit: USGS

Innovative Technology to Study the Samples

U.S. and Japanese researchers are now analyzing the cores using specialized devices that keep the cores at their natural, stable conditions.

The devices are called Pressure Core Characterization Tools (PCCT), which were designed and built by Georgia Tech with long-term support from the DOE and JIP. Scientists from Georgia Tech and the USGS will be operating these devices.

The key tool is the Instrumented Pressure Testing Chamber, which was the first device capable of measuring certain properties of pressure cores without first depressurizing them. An example of another device is special pressure vessels that measure the strength of the sediments and how quickly fluids can flow through the sediments.

Testing these instruments in Japan will also help prepare for the analysis of pressure cores that may be obtained in the future from hydrate deposits in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico and on the Alaskan North Slope. Along with Japan, these areas are ideal locations for future research to assess the occurrence and production potential of gas hydrates.

USGS Weighs In

“This research will not only help us understand the character of gas hydrates in Japan, but we can also apply that knowledge as well as this innovative technology and approach to understand the potential in the U.S. and around the world,” said Brenda Pierce, USGS Energy Resources Program Coordinator. “This project brings together international experts, each with specialized knowledge to share about these important hydrate deposits. The USGS is excited that our Japanese colleagues have invited us to participate in this project along with Georgia Tech.”

Mini-Production Tests and Future Publications

Japanese researchers are also conducting the first offshore production test to track how much methane can be released from deepwater gas hydrate deposits. Focus will be in the Nankai Trough, which is where the cores being studied now were recovered.

Japan’s AIST has manufactured an instrument that will be used to conduct laboratory production tests on the pressure cores. During these tests, the cores will be depressurized at closely controlled rates to breakdown the methane hydrate and release natural gas. By measuring the volume of gas produced and the rate of production, insight may be gained regarding the potential behavior of the reservoirs during the planned field test. Mini-production tests and future full-scale field production tests are a required step to potentially realize gas hydrates as an energy resource.

Official publications from this project are scheduled for two years from now.

Gas hydrate recovered in shallow layers just below the seafloor during piston coring in the Gulf of Mexico. Photo Credit: USGS

Financial Support

This collaborative research in Japan was financially supported by MH21, USGS, DOE, and the multinational Gulf of Mexico Gas Hydrates JIP.

USGS Gas Hydrates Project

The USGS has a globally recognized research effort studying gas hydrates in many different settings around world. Research locations include Japan as well as the U.S. Beaufort Sea, Alaska’s North Slope, India, Korea and the northern Gulf of Mexico.

In addition to energy, climate studies are another focus of USGS gas hydrates research. There are concerns that as the climate warms, gas hydrates may break down and release large volumes of methane into the atmosphere, which would further exacerbate climate warming. USGS scientists are studying this interaction, particularly in the Arctic. Research has indicated that most of the world’s gas hydrate deposits should remain stable for the next few thousand years. Of the gas hydrates likely to become unstable, few are likely to release methane that could reach the atmosphere and intensify climate warming.

Photographs

Photographs of the international research team conducting analysis in Japan are available at: http://gallery.usgs.gov/tags/GasHydrates

Contacts

Jessica Robertson

Public Affairs, U.S. Geological Survey

Phone: 703-648-6624

Email: jrobertson@usgs.gov

Carolyn Ruppel

Gas Hydrates Project Chief, U.S. Geological Survey

Phone: 617-806-6768

Email: cruppel@usgs.gov

Liz Klipp

Media Relations, Georgia Institute of Technology

Phone: 404-894-6016

Email: klipp@gatech.edu

Group of Administrative Coordination
Research Consortium for Methane Hydrate Resources in Japan (MH21)

Email: mh21info@jogmec.go.jp

In 1986, Lake Nyos, in the volcanic region of Cameroon, released a cloud of CO2 into the atmosphere, killing 1,700 people and 3,500 livestock in nearby towns and villages. Since then, engineers have been artificially removing the gas from the lake through piping. The gas burst in 1986 from the 200-meter deep Lake Nyos was so violent that water washed over the 80-meter high promontory in the foreground.

In 1986 Lake Nyos, in the volcanic region of Cameroon, suddenly released a cloud of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, killing 1,700 people and 3,500 livestock in nearby towns and villages.

The cause was a phenomenon later named “exploding lakes,” a hazard scientists hadn’t even known existed before the 1986 tragedy. But since then, to prevent Lake Nyos from exploding again, an international team of scientists and engineers has developed and implemented a program to artificially remove gas from the lake through piping.

USGS scientists initially advised on the project and have long monitored gas levels in the lake to determine whether this removal has been successful. This winter, USGS again joins a team traveling back to Cameroon to upgrade and re-install the monitoring devices. They’ll also update devices monitoring gas levels in nearby Lake Monoun, another exploding lake, where CO₂ has now been completely removed as part of the same project.

Although most of us may not realize it, volcanoes release more than 100 million tons of CO₂ into the atmosphere each year. (For most of the Earth’s history, volcano emissions were the primary source of CO₂ to the atmosphere; now emissions are estimated to be about 30 billion tons per year, with 100 million tons from volcanoes.) Usually the gas released during an eruption is harmless because it is rapidly diluted to low concentrations. However, sometimes the gas can get trapped underground, where it cools and becomes pressurized. If an earthquake or other disturbance later breaks the seal on this trapped gas, a dangerous, large cloud of cold, dense CO₂gas can be released in a very short period.

In 1986, Lake Nyos, in the volcanic region of Cameroon, released a cloud of CO2 into the atmosphere, killing 1,700 people and 3,500 livestock in nearby towns and villages. Since then, engineers have been artificially removing the gas from the lake through piping. A small CO2 cloud from Lake Monoun killed 37 people in 1984.

Cameroon’s exploding lakes are a unique example of this phenomenon, where CO₂ is trapped in the bottom water of deep volcanic craters. The gas stays at the bottom of the lake, held down by the pressure of the overlying water. But eventually, CO₂ gas can start to bubble up to the top of the lake, which reduces the water pressure that usually holds the gas down. When this happens, the gas from the bottom of the lake can vent with exploding force, creating a suffocating cloud that can kill people and animals in low-lying areas.

In 1986 scientists from all over the world, including USGS scientists, traveled to Cameroon to study the disasters. Over the following years, they helped establish a plan to prevent CO₂ from ever again harming the people and livestock in the surrounding villages. Beginning in 2001, a French engineering firm installed pipes that reached the very bottom of the lakes. Pumps initially push some of the lower water upward, releasing water pressure and allowing CO₂ gas bubbles to form. Once bubbles form, the gas naturally flows up and out of the pipe at a controlled rate.

This technique has successfully resulted in the complete degassing of Cameroon’s Lake Monoun, which now poses no risk of gas release. Much of the gas in Lake Nyos has been removed as well, but degassing will continue for several more years before the CO₂ is completely gone.

The USGS continues to monitor water conditions at these two lakes. The probes that measure the dissolved gas pressure are built at USGS, and are permanently installed in the lakes. After a decade of use, the most recent probes now need to be replaced.

In 1986, Lake Nyos, in the volcanic region of Cameroon, released a cloud of CO2 into the atmosphere, killing 1,700 people and 3,500 livestock in nearby towns and villages. Since then, engineers have been artificially removing the gas from the lake through piping. This photo shows a pipe top and raft at Lake Nyos. The self-driven fountain (inset) can reach a height of 150 feet above the lake surface while dissipating carbon dioxide.

These probes allow the USGS and other scientists to understand the natural recharge rate of gas to Lake Monoun, which will reveal the number of years required for gas to build back up to dangerous levels. Also, the probes help scientists track the build-up of methane, another potentially dangerous gas and a byproduct of the degassing. (When the water is piped up, nutrient-rich bottom waters settle on the surface and boost algal growth, resulting in a larger supply of organic material that eventually settles back to the bottom of the lake and produces methane.)

While exploding lakes in Cameroon are unique, volcanic CO₂ poses problems in some areas of the U.S., as well. In fact, in 1994, USGS researchers discovered that large volumes of CO₂ were seeping from beneath Mammoth Mountain, a young volcano in the Long Valley area of California. The seepage was triggered by a persistent swarm of earthquakes, and killed more than 100 acres of trees. The CO₂also forced the U.S. Forest Service to close the area to camping. The USGS continues to monitor this area, where earthquakes and gas seepage remain a concern.

In 1986, Lake Nyos, in the volcanic region of Cameroon, released a cloud of CO2 into the atmosphere, killing 1,700 people and 3,500 livestock in nearby towns and villages. Since then, engineers have been artificially removing the gas from the lake through piping. This photo shows the Lake Nyos pipe in operation. The 200-meter-long pipe is suspended from the raft and allows gas-rich water from the lake bottom to vent to the surface, where the CO2 dissipates into the atmosphere at a controlled rate. The shed on the control raft is about 6 feet high and the fountain is about 120 feet high. There are no pumps involved because the CO2 drives the fountain, just like a shaken bottle of champagne.

Every year in the U.S. and around the world, natural hazards cost lives and billions of dollars in damage. The USGS provides policymakers and the public with a clear understanding of natural hazards and their potential threats to society, and assists with developing smart, cost-effective strategies for achieving preparedness and resilience. The CO₂ removal in Cameroon and monitoring near Mammoth Mountain both save lives and underscore the value of sound science in mitigating natural disasters.

Bill Evans is the USGS scientist traveling to Cameroon for this work, which is part of the USGS National Research Program. NRP researchers study the flow and chemistry of water in the environment, and the techniques they develop can be applied in many fields, including in this case, the mitigation of natural hazards.

For more information, contact Kara Capelli.

But recent research indicates that most of the world’s gas hydrate deposits should remain stable for the next few thousand years. Of the hydrates likely to become unstable, few are likely to release methane that could reach the atmosphere and intensify global warming.

Figure 1: Gas hydrates have been found in many locations worldwide. Scientists predict that they occur in many areas that have not yet been surveyed.

Background: Gas hydrates are an ice-like combination of natural gas and water that can form in deep-water ocean sediments near the continents, and within or beneath continuous permafrost in the circum-Arctic. Specific temperatures and pressures and an ample supply of natural gas are required for gas hydrates to form and remain stable.

Figure 2: Solid gas hydrate recovered from sediments about 20 feet below the seafloor near Canada’s Vancouver Island

An estimated 99 percent of gas hydrates are in ocean sediments, with the remaining 1 percent in permafrost areas (fig.1). Methane hydrate or “methane ice” is the most common type of gas hydrate (fig. 2). It is a highly concentrated form of methane. One cubic foot of methane hydrate traps about 164 cubic feet of methane gas.

The amount of methane trapped in the earth’s hydrate deposits is uncertain, but even the most conservative estimates conclude that about 1000 times more methane is trapped in hydrates than is consumed annually worldwide. The most active area of gas hydrate research focuses on their potential as an alternate source of natural gas (fig. 3), and the USGS Gas Hydrates Projecthas several programs in this area.

Gas Hydrates and Climate Change– A Theoretical View

Figure 3: Methane hydrate is sometimes called “the ice that burns” because the warming hydrates release enough methane to sustain a flame.

Gas hydrate researchers are examining the link between climate change and the stability of methane hydrate deposits. A warming climate could cause gas hydrates to break down (dissociate), releasing the methane that they now trap.

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas. A given volume of methane causes 15 to 20 times more greenhouse gas warming than carbon dioxide, so the release of large quantities of methane to the atmosphere could exacerbate atmospheric warming and cause more gas hydrates to destabilize (fig. 4).

Figure 4: Schematic of the theoretical scenario -- Arctic methane emissions from gas hydrates and increased climate warming.

Some research suggests that this has happened in the past. Extreme warming during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum about 55 million years ago may have been related to a large-scale release of global methane hydrates. Some scientists have also advanced the Clathrate Gun Hypothesis to explain observations that may be consistent with repeated, catastrophic dissociation of gas hydrates and triggering of submarine landslides during the Late Quaternary (400,000 to 10,000 years ago).

Methane in the Atmosphere: Current Observations

The atmospheric concentration of methane, like that of carbon dioxide, has increased since the onset of the Industrial Revolution (fig. 5). Methane in the atmosphere comes from many sources, including wetlands, rice cultivation, termites, cows and other ruminants, forest fires, and fossil fuel production (fig. 6). Some researchers have estimated that up to 2 percent of atmospheric methane may originate with dissociation of global gas hydrates. Currently, scientists do not have a tool to say with certainty how much, or if any, atmospheric methane comes from hydrates.

Although methane is a potent greenhouse gas, it does not remain in the atmosphere for long. Within about 10 years, it is transformed to carbon dioxide. Thus, methane that is released to the atmosphere ultimately adds to the amount of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas.

Figure 5: Atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide in parts per million and methane in parts per billion. Source: NOAA

Figure 6: Possible sources of atmospheric methane. Currently, there is no proof that gas hydrates are contributing to total atmospheric methane budgets. Source: U.S. Department of Energy, Methane Hydrates R&D Program

Expected Impact of Warming Climate on Methane Hydrate Deposits For the most part, warming at rates documented by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for the 20th century should not lead to catastrophic breakdown of methane hydrates or major leakage of methane to the ocean-atmosphere system from gas hydrates that dissociate. While the vast majority of methane hydrates would require a sustained warming over thousands of years to trigger dissociation, gas hydrates in some locations are dissociating now in response to short-term and long-term climate processes.

The following discussion refers to the numbered type locales or sectors, shown in Figure 7.

Figure 7: Gas hydrate deposits by sector. Currently, gas hydrates are most likely dissociating in sectors 2 and 3. Only sector 2 is likely to release methane that could reach the atmosphere. Figure modified from Ruppel (2011).

Sector 1, Thick Onshore Permafrost: Gas hydrates that occur within or beneath thick terrestrial permafrost will remain largely stable even if climate warming lasts hundreds of years. Over thousands of years, warming could cause gas hydrates at the top of the stability zone, about 625 feet below the earth’s surface, to begin to dissociate.

Sector 2, Shallow Arctic Shelf: The shallow water continental shelves that circle parts of the Arctic Ocean were formed when sea level rise during the past 10,000 years inundated permafrost that was at the coastline. Subsea permafrost is thawing beneath these continental shelves and associated methane hydrates are likely dissociating now. If methane from these gas hydrates rises to the ocean floor, it will likely reach the atmosphere. Less than one percent of the world’s gas hydrates probably occur in this setting, but this estimate could be revised as scientists learn more.

Sector 3, Upper Edge of Stability: Gas hydrates on upper continental slopes, beneath 1000 to 1600 feet of water, lie at the shallowest water depth for which methane hydrates are stable. The upper continental slopes, which ring all of the world’s continents, could host gas hydrate in zones that are roughly 30 feet thick. Warming ocean waters could completely dissociate these gas hydrates in less than 100 years. Methane emitted at these water depths will probably oxidize in the water column or simply dissolve and is not likely to reach the atmosphere. About 3.5 percent of the earth’s gas hydrates occur in this climate sensitive setting.

Sector 4, Deepwater: Most of the earth’s gas hydrates, about 95 percent, occur in water depths greater than 3000 feet. They are likely to remain stable even with a sustained increase in bottom temperatures over thousands of years. Most of the gas hydrates in these settings occur deep within the sediments. If they do dissociate, the released methane should remain trapped in the sediments, migrate upward to form new gas hydrates, or be consumed by oxidation in near-seafloor sediments. Most methane released at the seafloor would likely dissolve or be oxidized in the water column. A recent article, Methane Hydrates and Contemporary Climate Change, provides more detail.

USGS Gas Hydrates Project

Figure 8: USGS researchers deploy a mini-sparker source to image seafloor sediments in the shallow Beaufort Sea near Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, August 2011. The USGS and the U.S. Department of Energy are cooperating in this work.

The USGS is studying various sources of methane and the impact of climate change. Since 2009, the USGS Gas Hydrates Project has been conducting field research to determine whether gas hydrates are currently dissociating due to climate warming and, if so, how much methane emitted from these gas hydrates might reach the atmosphere. Research locations include the U.S. Beaufort Sea and Alaska’s North Slope. The USGS has also organized workshops to identify priorities in climate-hydrates research and to plan ocean drilling projects related to these issues.

Contact: Diane Noserale