Vessel Will Seek Methane Hydrates,but Study Discounts Quantity

摘要

THE SCHEDULED LAUNCH of the semi-sub-mersible drilling vessel Uncle John in the Gulf of Mexico is the next step in a U.S.Department of Energy-funded project to map the potential methane hydrates resource in the United States.But a new study funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and published in the March 15 issue of Geophysical Research Letters said marine sediments in the northern gulf are likely to be too warm and salty to hold the amount of methane hydrates originally thought to exist in the ocean floor there.