Methane and Gas Hydrates Title Card

Title card for the Arctic Methane and Gas Hydrates goal.  This shows methane bubbles in a lake in the Arctic.

The USGS Gas Hydrates Project investigates the potential of deepwater marine and permafrost gas hydrates. Scientists have participated in a resource-focused drilling expedition on the Alaska North Slope with U.S. government and international partners. The Gas Hydrates Project also studies the interplay of warming climate and gas hydrates. The Arctic Ocean and circum-Arctic land masses are warming more rapidly than other locations on Earth, a phenomenon called the Arctic Amplification Effect. A critical question is how this warming will affect temperature-sensitive gas hydrate deposits and the emission of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, at high latitudes. USGS researchers are studying thermokarst lakes that are emitting methane. As microbes feast on stores of organic matter recently made available due to permafrost thaw, they generate methane that bubbles from these lakes.