Support of Gulf of Mexico Hydrate Research Consortium: Activities to Support Establishment of a Sea Floor Monitoring Station Project. Final Report Covering Research During the Period of 1 June, 2002 through September, 2008

摘要

A consortium has been assembled for the purpose of consolidating both the laboratory and field efforts of leaders in gas hydrates research. Established at and administered by the University of Mississippi=s Center for Marine Resources and Environmental Technology (CMRET), the Consortium, has, as its primary objective, the design and emplacement of a remote monitoring station or sea-floor observatory (SFO) on the sea floor in the northern Gulf of Mexico by the year 2009. The primary purpose of the station is to monitor activity in an area where gas hydrates are known to be present at, or just below, the sea-floor. In order to meet this goal, the Consortium has begun assembling a station that will monitor physical and chemical parameters of the sea water, sea-floor sediments, and shallow subsea-floor sediments on a more-or-less continuous basis over an extended period of time. Central to the establishment of the Consortium is the need to coordinate activities, avoid redundancies and promote effective and efficient communication among researchers in this growing area of research.