International Methane Hydrate Research and Development Workshop (6th) held in Bergen, Norway on May 13-15, 2008

摘要

This document reviews the 6th International Methane Hydrate Research and Development Workshop. Researchers from the Norway, Japan and United States have held a series of these workshops in Honolulu Hawaii, Washington, DC, Vina del Mar Chile, Victoria British Columbia, and Edinburgh, Scotland over the last eight years. The primary goals of the workshops are to develop collaborations in field and laboratory research in methane hydrate research that provides sharing of analytical technology, approaches to sampling protocol, and cost sharing of ship time. Twenty-two different nations have participated in previous workshops, resulting in a variety of international collaborations; including methane hydrate exploration off the mid Chilean Margin, the New Zealand Hikurangi Margin, Cascadia Margin and the Gulf of Mexico. The 6th International Methane Hydrate Research and Development Workshop was focused to enhance international collaboration on development of the methane hydrate research program in the Arctic Ocean. This workshop included participation of representative from 12 countries. Key goals of this workshop include: 1) expanding an international, interdisciplinary scientific network, 2) ship and equipment time and experimental design sharing, 3) coastal ocean data integration, 4) sharing laboratory and field technology information, and 5) discussion on preliminary hydrate dissociation strategies. This workshop focused on topics in the Arctic Ocean, including hydrate exploration and climate change. The session topics during this workshop included: 1) Characteristics of hydrate in marine sediments and commercial value of hydrate; 2) Laboratory and pilot scale experiments; 3) Characterization and quantification of arctic hydrates; 4) Exploitation strategies and technical challenges; 5) Theoretical modeling; and 6) Methane hydrate fluxes from the ocean and potential climate implications. A summary of the individual topics were discussed with a focus on Arctic hydrates.