U.S. Geological Survey Gas Hydrates Project
MATRIX Research Cruise
USGS Coastal/Marine Hazards and Resources Program completed the acquisition of over 2000 km of multichannel seismic (MCS) data as part of the Mid-Atlantic Resource Imaging Experiment (MATRIX) conducted aboard the R/V Hugh R. Sharp.
Learn moreIMMerSS Research Cruise
USGS Gas Hydrates Project led an expedition aboard the R/V Hugh R. Sharp to explore seafloor methane seeps on the northern U.S. Atlantic margin between Baltimore Canyon and Cape Hatteras.
Learn moreResearch Themes
The USGS Gas Hydrates Project focuses on the study of natural gas hydrates in deepwater marine systems and permafrost areas.
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The USGS Gas Hydrates Project focuses on the study of natural gas hydrates in deepwater marine systems and permafrost areas. The primary goals are:
- Evaluate methane hydrates as a potential energy source
- Investigate the interaction between methane hydrate destabilization and climate change at short and long time scales, particularly in the Arctic
- Study the spatial and temporal connections between submarine slope failures and gas hydrate dynamics
The Gas Hydrate Project conducts multidisciplinary field studies, participates in national and international deep drilling expeditions, and maintains a laboratory program focused on hydrate-bearing sediments.
The USGS Gas Hydrates Project focuses on gas hydrates in the natural environment and seeks to advance understanding of (a) the potential of gas hydrates as an energy resource; (b) the role of gas hydrates in climate change, as well as their susceptibility to climate change; and (c) gas hydrates and the stability of submarine slopes. The Gas Hydrates Project maintains an extensive laboratory program to support research in these core areas.
The USGS Gas Hydrates Project has been making contributions to advance understanding of US and international gas hydrates science for over two decades. The research group working on gas hydrates at the USGS is among the largest in the US and has expertise in all the major geoscience disciplines, as well as in the physics and chemistry of gas hydrates, the geotechnical properties of hydrate-bearing sediments, and the biogeochemistry of marine and permafrost gas hydrate systems. The group includes field-based scientists, numerical modelers, laboratory scientists, and supporting technical personnel for marine, permafrost, and laboratory operations. Much of the research is carried out in collaboration with other federal agencies or academic partners, and there are frequently opportunities to collaborate on international programs that jointly serve the Project's mission and the goals of the international partners.
The USGS Gas Hydrates Project integrates across USGS mission areas, programs, and regions. The stars indicate the locations of personnel involved in the Gas Hydrates Project. Within the US, much of the research focuses on the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska, which represent marine and permafrost-associated settings for gas hydrates, respectively.
The Mid-Atlantic Resource Imaging Experiment (MATRIX)
In late August 2018, scientists and technical staff from the USGS Coastal/Marine Hazards and Resources Program completed the acquisition of over 2000 km of multichannel seismic (MCS) data as part of the Mid-Atlantic Resource Imaging Experiment (MATRIX) conducted aboard the...
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Date published: August 27, 2018Status: CompletedIMMeRSS-- Interagency Mission for Methane Research on Seafloor Seeps
From May 3 to May 11, 2017, the U.S. Geological Survey, in collaboration with the British Geological Survey and with support from these two agencies, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, and the U.S. Department of Energy, will lead an...
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Date published: August 23, 2018Status: ActiveGas Hydrates- Laboratory and Field Support
The Instrumented Pressure Testing Chamber (IPTC)
A device for measuring the physical properties of naturally-occurring, hydrate-bearing sediment at nearly in situ pressure conditions.
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Date published: August 23, 2018Status: ActiveGas Hydrates- Submarine Slope Destabilization
USGS scientists have a long tradition of studying submarine slope failures and were among the first to note a spatial link between slope failures and gas hydrates/gas-charged sediments. USGS Gas Hydrates scientists support the USGS Hazards Mission area through field-based surveys that refine understanding of this association and through geotechnical studies that evaluate the response of...
Contacts: Carolyn Ruppel, PhD -
Date published: August 23, 2018Status: ActiveGas Hydrates- Atlantic Margin Methane Seeps
Analysis of 94,000 square kilometers of multibeam water column backscatter data collected by the NOAA Okeanos Explorer mostly seaward of the shelf-break on the northern US Atlantic margin reveals more than 570 gas plumes that correspond to seafloor methane seeps. This discovery is documented in an August 2014 ...
Contacts: Carolyn Ruppel, PhD -
Date published: May 2, 2018Status: ActiveEnvironmental Compliance
The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) is the cornerstone of our Nation's environmental laws and was enacted to ensure that information on the environmental impacts of any Federal, or federally funded, action is available to public officials and citizens before decisions are made and before actions are taken
Contacts: Carolyn Ruppel, PhD -
Date published: March 22, 2018Status: ActiveGas Hydrates- Climate and Hydrate Interactions
Breakdown of gas hydrates due to short- or long-term climate change may release methane to the ocean-atmosphere system. Methane that reaches the atmosphere can in turn exacerbate climate warming. Studies of methane hydrate dynamics and methane release on the continental shelf and upper slope in the US Arctic and Atlantic margin are tracking these processes.
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Date published: March 22, 2018Status: ActiveGas Hydrates-Energy
Natural gas production from methane hydrates may someday prove viable. The USGS Gas Hydrate Project takes part in US and international programs to investigate the potential of deepwater marine and permafrost gas hydrates as an energy resource. Long-term production tests are the next step in this research.
Contacts: Carolyn Ruppel, PhD, Timothy S Collett -
Date published: March 19, 2018Gas Hydrates - Primer
What is Gas Hydrate?
Gas hydrate is an ice-like crystalline form of water and low molecular weight gas (e.g., methane, ethane, carbon dioxide). On Earth, gas hydrates occur naturally in some marine sediments and within and beneath permafrost. Gas hydrates have also been inferred on other planets or their moons.
At the molecular level, gas hydrate...
Preliminary global database of known and inferred gas hydrate locations
This data release provides a text description of the region, geographic coordinates, and the citation for the published reference for known and inferred gas hydrate locations. Where the existence of gas hydrate was inferred, the description of the criteria used to make the inference was also included.
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Date published: August 31, 2020Multichannel Seismic-Reflection and Navigation Data Collected Using Sercel GI Guns and Geometrics GeoEel Digital Streamers During the Mid-Atlantic Resource Imaging Experiment (MATRIX), USGS Field Activity 2018-002-FA
In summer 2018, the U.S. Geological Survey partnered with the U.S Department of Energy and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to conduct the Mid-Atlantic Resources Imaging Experiment (MATRIX) as part of the U.S. Geological Survey Gas Hydrates Project. The field program objectives were to acquire high-resolution 2-dimensional multichannel seismic-reflection and split-beam echosounder data...
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Date published: April 9, 2020Marine Geophysical Data Collected to Support Methane Seep Research Along the U.S. Atlantic Continental Shelf Break and Upper Continental Slope Between the Baltimore and Keller Canyons During U.S. Geological Survey Field Activities 2017-001-FA and 2017-002
In spring and summer 2017, the U.S. Geological Survey’s Gas Hydrates Project conducted two cruises aboard the research vessel Hugh R. Sharp to explore the geology, chemistry, ecology, physics, and oceanography of sea-floor methane seeps and water column gas plumes on the northern U.S. Atlantic margin between the Baltimore and Keller Canyons.
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Date published: July 12, 2019Post-expedition report for USGS T-3 ice island heat flow measurements in the High Arctic Ocean, 1963-1973
In February 1963, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) began a study of heat flow in the Arctic Ocean Basin and acquired data at 356 sites in Canada Basin and Nautilus Basin and on Alpha-Mendeleev Ridge by the end of the project in 1973. The USGS heat flow and associated piston coring operations were conducted from a scientific station on the freely drifting T-3 Ice island.
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Date published: July 12, 2019Thermal Data and Navigation for T-3 (Fletcher's) Ice Island Arctic Ocean Heat Flow Studies, 1963-73
The T-3 (Fletcher's) Ice Island in the Arctic Ocean was the site of a scientific research station re-established by the Naval Arctic Research Laboratory starting in 1962. This dataset is the enhanced version of the original data table from Lachenbruch and others incorporating additional information such as the probable dates of measurement, physiographic province.
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Date published: February 28, 2019Pressure Core Characterization Tool Measurements of Compressibility, Permeability, and Shear Strength of Fine-Grained Sediment Collected from Area C, Krishna-Godavari Basin, during India's National Gas Hydrate Program Expedition NGHP-02
This data release provides results for flow-through permeability, consolidation, and direct shear measurements made on fine-grained seal sediment from Site NGHP-02-08 offshore eastern India. The sediment was collected in a pressure core from the Krishna-Godavari Basin during the 2015 Indian National Gas Hydrate Program Expedition 2 (NGHP-02).
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Date published: February 28, 2019Dependence of sedimentation behavior on pore-fluid chemistry for sediment collected offshore South Korea during the Second Ulleung Basin Gas Hydrate Expedition, UBGH2
The results included in this data release can provide insight into the types of fines present, which can be difficult to quantify if using the more standard x-ray diffraction method for identifying fines and indicate whether the in situ fines are likely to increase or decrease their capacity to clog pore throats as the pore water transitions from higher to lower salinity.
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Date published: February 28, 20192D micromodel studies of pore-throat clogging by pure fine-grained sediments and natural sediments from NGHP-02, offshore India
Fine-grained sediments, or “fines,” are nearly ubiquitous in natural sediments, even in the predominantly coarse-grained sediments that host gas hydrates. Fines within these sandy sediments can be mobilized and subsequently clog flow pathways while methane is being extracted from gas hydrate as an energy resource.
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Date published: February 28, 2019Physical Properties of Sediment Collected during India's National Gas Hydrate Program NGHP-02 Expedition in the Krishna-Godavari Basin Offshore Eastern India, 2015
This data release contains measurement results for physical properties measured on recovered core material, including measurements on gas-hydrate-bearing sediment preserved in pressure cores, and physical properties of gas hydrate-free sediment recovered from conventional cores.
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Date published: July 24, 2018Effect of pore fluid chemistry on the sedimentation and compression behavior of pure, endmember fines
The data in this release support the correlation effort by providing: 1) sedimentation results that provide insight into micro-scale sediment fabric and void ratio dependence on sediment/fluid interactions, and 2) consolidation results that quantify the macro-scale compressibility and recompressibility parameters for a suite of fine-grained sediments and differing pore fluids.
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Date published: July 24, 2018
Effect of pore fluid chemistry on the sedimentation and compression behavior of pure, endmember fines
The data in this release support the correlation effort by providing: 1) sedimentation results that provide insight into micro-scale sediment fabric and void ratio dependence on sediment/fluid interactions, and 2) consolidation results that quantify the macro-scale compressibility and recompressibility parameters for a suite of fine-grained sediments and differing pore fluids.
Measuring water chemistry in Double Keyhole Cave, FL
Robert Scharping, a post-doctoral fellow jointly appointed by the USGS and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) measures water chemistry 40’ underwater and underground in Double Keyhole Cave near the coastline of Tampa Bay Florida. Robert is identifying the microbes and chemical conditions supporting chemosynthetic production of organic matter that is expelled
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Matrix cruise study area
Multichannel seismic lines acquired during the 2018 MATRIX program are shown in yellow, with the locations of sonobuoy deployments indicated by orange crosses. Dotted black line is the track of the R/V Hugh R. Sharp when seismic data were not being acquired. The MATRIX surveys sampled through three large areas (purple) identified by BOEM as prospective for gas hydrate
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Multichannel seismic image
Multichannel seismic image collected by the USGS along 2018 MATRIX line 08, which is located ~280 km offshore of the Virginia-Maryland border at a water depth of ~3500 m.
Atlantic Spotted Dolphins
Atlantic spotted dolphins photographed near the R/V Hugh R. Sharp on August 27, 2018 by the protected species visual observers.
Leak Testing Instrumented Pressure Testing Chamber
USGS personnel leak-testing the Instrumented Pressure Testing Chamber (IPTC)
Retrieving airguns
Jenny White McKee and Pete Dal Ferro of the Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center retrieve two airguns during the 2018 MATRIX cruise aboard the R/V Hugh R. Sharp. The seismic streamer is visible on the winch in the foreground.
Diesel Compressors
Four diesel-powered compressors chained to the deck of the R/V Hugh R. Sharp provided the air to power the seismic sources during the MATRIX cruise.
Sonobuoy launch
Engineering technician Jenny McKee from the USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center in Santa Cruz, California watches as an expendable sonobuoy leaves the launcher during the 2018 MATRIX cruise on research vessel Hugh R. Sharp. The sonobuoy deploys an antenna used to transmit received seismic signals back to the ship over radio frequencies at distances up
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USGS personnel configuring and deploying the streamer of hydrophone
USGS personnel configuring and deploying the streamer of hydrophone receivers on the R/V Hugh R. Sharp during the MATRIX cruise. In foreground from left to right are Nathan Miller, Wayne Baldwin, and Eric Moore from the USGS Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center.
Timeline of Gas Hydrate Expeditions
Timeline showing past and future drilling and deep-sea coring and borehole logging expeditions as of late 2017. The goal of the permafrost and deepwater marine programs is to evaluate the potential of gas hydrate as a resource, whereas the goal of the academic ocean drilling programs is to focus on critical research questions related to natural gas hydrate deposits. DOE
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USGS in South Korea
Tim Collett, USGS research geologist, presenting at the Korean Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources' (KIGAM) international program for geoscience resources.
USGS in Daejon, South Korea
USGS scientists, Bill Waite, Tim Collett, and Seth Haines in front of a archway in Daejeon, South Korea
Special Issue Highlights One of the Most Extensive Gas Hydrate Datasets Ever Collected
The USGS and its research partners in India and Japan have reported on one of the most extensive data sets ever collected on the occurrence of natural gas hydrate.
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Date published: February 27, 2019The interaction of climate change and methane hydrates is one of the Reviews of Geophysics' top rated articles!
According to Reviews of Geophysics this work received some of the highest count of citations amongst articles published between January 2017 and December 2018.
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Date published: September 20, 2018Seismic Research Cruise Provides New Data on U.S. Atlantic Margin Gas Hydrates
Data acquired by the U.S. Geological Survey on the U.S. Atlantic Margin in August 2018 reveal new information about the distribution of gas hydrates in the sector stretching from the upper continental slope to deep water areas offshore New Jersey to North Carolina.
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Date published: March 8, 2018Modern Perspective on Gas Hydrates
After lying hidden in sediments for thousands of years, delicate frozen gas structures are in the spotlight for both scientific research and the national interest. These structures, known as gas hydrate, are being investigated by scientists the world over for their possible contributions to the global energy mix, as well as their potential interaction with the environment.
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Date published: February 9, 2018USGS Gas Hydrates Project Releases New Fact Sheets!
The USGS Gas Hydrates Project has published two new Fact Sheets. One describes the goals and scope of the Project and the other describes "Gas Hydrates in Nature," including where they form, how they are studied, and why researchers focus on gas hydrates for energy resource and environmental studies.
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Date published: April 14, 2017Proven under Pressure: USGS Advances Capabilities for High-Pressure Seafloor Samples Containing Gas Hydrate
Meet USGS' newest laboratory!
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Date published: January 4, 2017Exploring Gas Hydrates as a Future Energy Source
In the past decade, the development of the Barnett, Eagle Ford, Marcellus, and other shales has dominated the national consciousness regarding natural gas. But in Alaska, another form of natural gas has been the focus of research for decades—methane hydrate.
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Date published: June 16, 2016Atlantic Methane Seeps Surprise Scientists
Recent scientific work has confirmed the source, composition and origin of methane seeps on the Atlantic Ocean seafloor, discovered in 2012, where scientists never expected them to be.
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Date published: March 16, 2015Frozen Heat Features USGS Science
The Gas Hydrates Project at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) contributed to a four-year international effort by multiple partners, including the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), to formulate a just-released report entitled, “Frozen Heat: A Global Outlook on Methane Gas Hydrates.”
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Date published: December 10, 2003
Gas Hydrates - Will They be Considered in the Future Global Energy Mix?
For the first time, an international research program involving the Department of the Interior’s U.S. Geological Survey has proven that it is technically feasible to produce gas from gas hydrates. Gas hydrates are a naturally occurring "ice-like" combination of natural gas and water that have the potential to be a significant new source of energy from the world’s oceans and polar regions.
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Date published: December 8, 1997
Future energy source, greenhouse gas, drilling hazard ... USGS Scientists Describe Latest on Gas Hydrates
Scientists are taking another look at methane in gas hydrate, which contains perhaps twice as much organic carbon as all fossil fuels on earth. This gas may prove to be an energy resource for the future.
What are gas hydrates?
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Where are gas hydrates found?
Gas hydrates are found in sub-oceanic sediments in the polar regions (shallow water) and in continental slope sediments (deep water), where pressure and temperature conditions combine to make them stable.
Map showing locations where gas hydrate has been... -
Who studies gas hydrates?
Currently, groups of scientists in the U.S., Canada, Norway, Great Britain and Japan are working to try to understand gas hydrates and the role it plays in the global climate and the future of fuels. The USGS Gas Hydrates Project focuses on the study of natural gas hydrates in deepwater marine systems and permafrost areas. The primary goals are:... -
How are gas hydrates studied?
Gas hydrates can be studied in the laboratory, where a machine is used to create the proper pressure and temperature conditions for hydrate formation, or it can be studied in situ using seismic data collected aboard ships and geophysical models. Learn more: USGS Gas Hydrates Lab