A multi-university research team led by UT Austin has been awarded $58 million to analyze deposits of frozen methane in the Gulf of Mexico. The U.S. Department of Energy is providing more than $41 million to fund the work, with the remainder coming from industry and research partners. The grant will allow researchers to advance scientific understanding of methane hydrates, which have potential to greatly increase the world’s energy supply. Dr. Peter Flemings, a professor and research scientist in the Institute for Geophysics at the Jackson School of Geosciences, will serve as the project’s principal investigator. Researchers from The Ohio State University, Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, the Consortium for Ocean Leadership and the U.S. Geological Survey also will participate in the study. Go here for more and read news coverage in the Houston Chronicle and the Austin American-Statesman.
