Search all stories Home Sections Fieldwork Research Outreach Meetings Awards Staff esc amp Center News Publications Archives Studying the Link Between Arctic Methane Seeps and degassing Methane Hydrates By Carolyn Ruppel John Pohlman and Charles Worley October 2009 revised Oct 26 2009 in this issue next story In spring and summer 2009 scientists with the U S Geological Survey USGS Gas Hydrates Project studied a methane seep in a lake near Alaska s Arctic coast in part to determine whether the methane is coming from destabilization of gas hydrate mdash an ice like crystalline solid formed from a mixture of water and natural gas most commonly methane Gas hydrates are stable at moderate pressures and low temperatures and are widespread in continental margin sediments at greater than 300 m water depth and areas of continuous permafrost onshore and relict permafrost in the shallow offshore less than 100 m water depth Globally gas hydrate sequesters huge amounts of methane which is known to be a far more potent greenhouse gas than CO 2 Climate perturbations could destabilize gas hydrate deposits and potentially release substantial amounts of methane to the atmosphere Above Area in northern Alaska where subsurface temperature and pressure conditions are conducive to the occurrence of gas hydrates red outline compiled by Timothy Collett as part of USGS Fact Sheet 2008 3073 Note that gas hydrate could occur in sediments both onshore and at shallow water depths offshore Lake Qalluuraq lies just south of Atqasuk in the western part of the Alaskan North Slope TPS Total Petroleum System larger version The USGS Gas Hydrates Project s climate related research focuses on assessing the contribution of degassing methane hydrates to contemporary atmospheric methane concentrations and evaluating the vulnerability of gas hydrate deposits to Holocene present and future climate perturbations For at least the past 10 000 years terrestrial and shallow offshore Arctic regions have undergone particularly rapid climate change We are theref