Michael Casso
Science and Products
U.S. Geological Survey Gas Hydrates Project
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 ...
Gas 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.
Gas 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.
Gas 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...
Comparison of methane concentration and stable carbon isotope data for natural samples analyzed by discrete sample introduction module - cavity ring down spectroscopy (DSIM-CRDS) and traditional methods
We demonstrate system performance for methane by comparing concentrations and 13C results obtained by the DSIM and traditional methods for a variety of sample types, including low concentration (nanomolar) seawater and high concentration (> 90%) natural gas.
Geochemical data supporting investigation of solute and particle cycling and fluxes from two tidal wetlands on the south shore of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, 2012-19
The U.S. Geological Survey and collaborators collected surface water and porewater geochemical data from a tidal wetland located on the eastern shore of Sage Lot Pond in Mashpee, Massachusetts, within the Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, between 2012 and 2019.
Coastal Groundwater Chemical Data from the North and South Shores of Long Island, New York
Groundwater data were collected in the spring and fall of 2008 from three sites representing different geological settings and biogeochemical conditions within the surficial glacial aquifer of Long Island, NY.
Discrete sample introduction module for quantitative and isotopic analysis of methane and other gases by cavity ring-down spectroscopy
Carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) are natural and anthropogenic products that play a central role in the global carbon cycle and regulating Earth’s climate. Applications utilizing laser absorption spectroscopy, which continuously measure concentrations and stable isotope ratios of these greenhouse gases, are routinely employed to measure the...
Pohlman, John; Casso, Michael; Magen, Cedric; Bergeron, Emile M.
Recent sandy deposits at five northern California coastal wetlands—Stratigraphy, diatoms, and implications for storm and tsunami hazards
A recent geological record of inundation by tsunamis or storm surges is evidenced by deposits found within the first few meters of the modern surface at five wetlands on the northern California coast. The study sites include three locations in the Crescent City area (Marhoffer Creek marsh, Elk Creek wetland, and Sand Mine marsh), O’rekw marsh in...
Eileen Hemphill-Haley; Kelsey, Harvey M.; Nicholas Graehl; Casso, Michael; Dylan Caldwell; Casey Loofbourrow; Michelle Robinson; Jessica Vermeer; Edward Southwick Enhanced CO2 uptake at a shallow Arctic Ocean seep field overwhelms the positive warming potential of emitted methane
Continued warming of the Arctic Ocean in coming decades is projected to trigger the release of teragrams (1 Tg = 106 tons) of methane from thawing subsea permafrost on shallow continental shelves and dissociation of methane hydrate on upper continental slopes. On the shallow shelves (<100 m water depth), methane released from the seafloor...
Pohlman, John; Greinert, J.; Ruppel, Carolyn D.; Silyakova, A; Vielstadte, L; Casso, Michael; Mienert, J; Bunz, S A simple headspace equilibration method for measuring dissolved methane
Dissolved methane concentrations in the ocean are close to equilibrium with the atmosphere. Because methane is only sparingly soluble in seawater, measuring it without contamination is challenging for samples collected and processed in the presence of air. Several methods for analyzing dissolved methane are described in the literature, yet none...
Magen, C; Lapham, L.L.; Pohlman, John W.; Marshall, Kristin N.; Bosman, S.; Casso, Michael; Chanton, J. P.
Review of Oceanographic and Geochemical Data Collected in Massachusetts Bay during a Large Discharge of Total Suspended Solids from Boston's Sewage-Treatment System and Ocean Outfall in August 2002
During the period August 14-23, 2002, the discharge of total suspended solids (TSS) from the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority sewage-treatment plant ranged from 32 to 132 milligrams per liter, causing the monthly average discharge to exceed the limit specified in the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit. Time-series...
Bothner, Michael H.; Butman, Bradford; Casso, Michael A.
Long-term oceanographic observations in Massachusetts Bay, 1989-2006
This data report presents long-term oceanographic observations made in western Massachusetts Bay at long-term site A (LT-A) (42 deg 22.6' N., 70 deg 47.0' W.; nominal water depth 32 meters) from December 1989 through February 2006 and long-term site B (LT-B) (42 deg 9.8' N., 70 deg 38.4' W.; nominal water depth 22 meters) from October 1997 through...
Butman, Bradford; Alexander, P. Soupy; Bothner, Michael H.; Borden, Jonathan; Casso, Michael A.; Gutierrez, Benjamin T.; Hastings, Mary E.; Lightsom, Frances L.; Martini, Marinna A.; Montgomery, Ellyn T.; Rendigs, Richard R.; Strahle, William S.
The coral reef of South Moloka'i, Hawai'i - Portrait of a sediment-threatened fringing reef
Moloka‘i, with the most extensive coral reef in the main Hawaiian Islands, is especially sacred to Hina, the Goddess of the Moon. As Hinaalo, she is the Mother of the Hawaiian people; as Hinapuku‘a, she is the Goddess of Fishermen; and in the form Hina‘opuhalako‘a, she is the Goddess who gave birth to coral, coral reefs, and all spiny marine...
Field, Michael E.; Cochran, Susan A.; Logan, Joshua B.; Storlazzi, Curt D.
Processes influencing the transport and fate of contaminated sediments in the coastal ocean: Boston Harbor and Massachusetts Bay
Most of the major urban centers of the United States including Boston, New York, Washington, Chicago, New Orleans, Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle—are on a coast (fig. 1.1). All of these cities discharge treated sewage effluent into adjacent waters. In 2000, 74 percent of the U.S. population lived within 200 kilometers (km) of the...
Bothner, Michael H.; Butman, Bradford; Alexander, P. Soupy; Baldwin, Sandra M.; Blackwood, Dann S.; Borden, Jonathan; Casso, Michael A.; Crusius, John; Goudreau, Joanne; Kalnejais, Linda H.; Lamothe, Paul J.; Martin, William R.; Martini, Marinna A.; Rendigs, Richard R.; Sayles, Frederick L.; Signell, Richard P.; Valentine, Page C.; Warner, John C. Quantity, composition, and source of sediment collected in sediment traps along the fringing coral reef off Molokai, Hawaii
Sediment traps were used to evaluate the frequency, cause, and relative intensity of sediment mobility/resuspension along the fringing coral reef off southern Molokai (February 2000–May 2002). Two storms with high rainfall, floods, and exceptionally high waves resulted in sediment collection rates > 1000 times higher than during non-storm...
Bothner, Michael H.; Reynolds, R. L.; Casso, M.A.; Storlazzi, C. D.; Field, M.E. The effect of the new Massachusetts Bay sewage outfall on the concentrations of metals and bacterial spores in nearby bottom and suspended sediments
Since the new outfall for Boston's treated sewage effluent began operation on September 6, 2000, no change has been observed in concentrations of silver or Clostridium perfringens spores (an ecologically benign tracer of sewage), in bottom sediments at a site 2.5 km west of the outfall. In suspended sediment samples collected with a time-series...
Bothner, Michael H.; Casso, M.A.; Rendigs, R. R.; Lamothe, P.J.