NURP, DOE, and MMS Coordinate to Fund Methane Hydrate
Seafloor Observatory
This story entered on 14th Sep, 2004 06:44:28 AM PST
It is estimated that up to 60% of the world's
global carbon reserves are located within methane hydrates, crystalline
solids that hold methane within a lattice of water molecules. Methane
is a greenhouse gas ten times more effective than carbon dioxide
in causing climate warming and the methane bound in hydrates amounts
to approximately three thousand times the volume of methane in the
atmosphere.
NOAA's Undersea Research Program (NURP) is interested in the contributions
of methane hydrates to the carbon cycle and their potential effects
on climate change, and the unique chemosynthetic communities that
subsist on hydrates. The Department of Energy (DOE) and the Minerals
Management Service (MMS) are interested in the potential of methane
hydrates as a viable energy source. DOE estimates that in the near
future 50% of U.S. petroleum needs will come from the Gulf of Mexico,
which is abundant in methane hydrates, and MMS estimates 60% of
those resources are natural gas.
NURP, DOE, and MMS are jointly funding a methane hydrate research
project headed by Dr. Bob Woolsey of the Center for Marine Resources
and Environmental Technology (CMRET) and the NURP's National Institute
for Undersea Science and Technology (NIUST) of the University of
Mississippi. Dr. Woolsey and his team have designed a remotely operated
sea floor observatory that will monitor the water column, ocean
bottom, and sediments from within the hydrate stability zone of
the continental slope of the northern Gulf of Mexico. Its primary
scientific objective is to study the cause and effects of the migration
of hydrocarbon fluids into and out of the hydrate stability zone,
and associated chemical interactions. Study results should provide
improved understanding of the role of gas hydrates and associated
free gas in regard to: 1) geo-hazards to sea-floor installations;
2) the significance to potential energy resources; and 3) the
global climate implications of hydrocarbon gases venting into the
water column and eventually, the atmosphere.
NURP hosted a meeting of the agencies and scientists involved
to coordinate effort on September 8, 2004. The initial deployment
of the observatory's remote sensing instruments is scheduled for
2005 with completion in 2006.
NURP supports NOAA's role in gas hydrate research as stated in the
Methane Hydrate Research and Development Act of 2000, which calls
for NOAA, DOE, and MMS to jointly carry out the research and development
of gas hydrates.
Further information on this project can be found in the Summer 2004
issue of the National Energy Technology Laboratory's Methane Hydrate
Newsletter, Fire in the Ice.
More information: Click
Here
Contact information
Name: Gene Smith
Tel: (301) 713-2427
gene.smith@noaa.gov
|