Dr. Bruce Buffet
Professor
Department of Earth & Planetary Science
University of California, Berkeley
Substantial volumes of methane gas are trapped below the seafloor
and in permafrost by an ice-like solid called clathrate hydrate. Global estimates of
the methane in clathrate hydrate may exceed 1016 kg, which represents one of the
largest sources of hydrocarbon on Earth. Speculations about large releases of methane
from clathrate hydrate have raised serious but unresolved questions about its possible
role in climate change. Progress in our understanding of clathrate hydrate has been
made through integrated geophysical and geochemical surveys of known clathrate
occurrences. Details from these surveys have motivated new investigations of the
physical, chemical, and biological processes that contribute to growth and breakdown
of clathrate hydrate in natural settings.
