Our best and brightest Aug 13, 2009
The methane came from wetlands, not from ice-like methane clathrate deposits under the ocean and in the permafrost. 1. (Sydney Morning Herald -- Australia)
Now action man Putin dives world's deepest lake Aug 2, 2009
The largely untouched lake bed contains deposits of clathrate hydrate - crystals packed with natural gas. Experts say the reserves of methane could rival some of the largest deposits in the world, although mineral extraction is banned. (BBC News -- Europe)
Russia's Putin dives for crystals in deepest lake Aug 1, 2009
Hidden in the largely unexplored floor of the lake are large deposits of clathrate hydrate, crystals packed with one of Russia's most lucrative exports: natural gas. Before locking down the hatches on the Mir-2 submersible, Putin was shown a specimen which bubbled under water. (AlertNet)
No 'Burp' Accelerating Climate Change? Wetlands Likely Source Of Methane From Ancient Warming Event Apr 28, 2009
"This is good news for global warming because it suggests that methane clathrates do not respond to warming by releasing large amounts of methane into the atmosphere," said Vasilii Petrenko, a postdoctoral fellow at University of Colorado, Boulder, who led the analysis while a graduate student at Scripps ... Vast amounts of methane are sequestered in solid form, known as methane clathrate, in seafloor deposits and in permafrost ... Cold temperatures and the intense pressure of the deep ocean... (Science Daily)
Ice That Burns Could Be a Green Fossil Fuel Mar 27, 2009
Due to their physical structure, clathrate hydrate cages "prefer" to have carbon dioxide at their cores, so if carbon dioxide is pumped into the hydrate, it spontaneously takes the methane's place ... The US, Canada, Japan and Korea are all looking into clathrate hydrates as a possible energy source. (Newsmax)
'Ice That Burns' For Clean Future Energy? Mar 24, 2009
Gas hydrates, also known as "clathrates," form when methane gas from the decomposition of organic material comes into contact with water at low temperatures and high pressures ... Another method involves exchanging the methane molecules in the "clathrate" structure with carbon dioxide ... It is among two dozen papers on the topic scheduled for a two-day symposium, "Gas Hydrates and Clathrates," March 23-24. (Science Daily)
