The Gas Hydrates working group has two ONC nodes available for their studies, NEPTUNE's Barkley Hydrates and Clayoquot Slope, both on the continental slope where natural gas hydrates are stable under the required high pressure and cold temperature conditions. Gas hydrates and their associated processes such as in the benthic community are inherently dynamic, and therefore the ability for year round 24h a day monitoring is perfectly suitable to capture the associated change
Barkley Canyon's hydrates has uniquely outcropping hydrate mounds which are constantly changing. This hydrate site is also special as it is composed of thermogenic natural gas from deep reservoirs. This is also home of Wally, the world's first internet operated vehicle, a submarine seafloor crawler.
Clayoquot Slope is located in the region of highest predicted rates of fluid escape from compacting sediments of the accretionary wedge. The fluid escape is prominent when crossing the site with ship echo sounders, and a permanent seafloor sonar now keeps track of the gas discharge. A transect of ocean drill holes, two of them instrumented and permanently recording, provide background data and valuable insights into the sometimes vigorous changes of hydrates activity.
| WG Main Projects | Initiated | Principal Investigators | Graduate students (HQP) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seafloor Crawler | Oct 2009 | Laurenz Thomsen, Jacopo Aguzzi, Jakob Schwendner, Autun Purser | Carol Doya, Alexander Duda, Damianos Chatzievangelou |
| Bubble Sonar | May 2010 | George Spence, Michael Riedel, Miriam Roemer | |
| Hydrate Mound Sonar | May 2013 | Jens Greinert, Jakob Schwendner | |
| Controlled Source Electromagnetic Experiment | 2010 | Nigel Edwards, Marion Jegen | Romina Gehrmann |
| Seafloor Compliance | Oct 2009 | Eleanor Willoughby, Nigel Edwards | Lisa Roach |
| SCIMPI Hydrates Borehole | May 2013 | Kate Moran, Tania Lado Insua | |
| CORK 1364A Hydrates Borehole | Sep 2010 | Earl Davis, Martin Heesemann | |
| Taphonomy of Wood and Shells at Hydrates | Sep 2009 | Mairi Best | |
| Infauna dependence on hydrocarbon food sources | Sep 2013 | Neus Campanya I Llovet, Paul Snelgrove | Neus Campanya I Llovet |
| Publications by the Working Group |
|---|
Chatzievangelou D., Doya C., Thomsen L., Purser A., Aguzzi J., 2016. High-Frequency Patterns in the Abundance of Benthic Species near a Cold-Seep – An Internet Operated Vehicle Application. PLoS ONE 11(10): e0163808. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0163808 Römer, M., Riedel, M., Scherwath, M., Heesemann, M., Spence, G.D., 2016. Tidally controlled gas bubble emissions: A comprehensive study using long-term monitoring data from the NEPTUNE cabled observatory offshore Vancouver Island, Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst., 17, doi:10.1002/2016GC006528. Wilson, R.M., Lapham, L.L., Riedel, M., Holmes, M.E., Chanton, J.P., 2015. Observing methane hydrate dissolution rates under sediment cover. Marine Chemistry, Volume: 172. Lapham, L., R. Wilson, M. Riedel, C. K. Paull, and M. E. Holmes, 2013. Temporal variability of in situ methane concentrations in gas hydrate-bearing sediments near Bullseye Vent, Northern Cascadia Margin. Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst., 14, 2445–2459, doi:10.1002/ggge.20167. Purser, A, Thomsen, L, Barnes, C, Best, M, Chapman, R, Hofbauer, M, Menzel, M, Wagner, H, 2013. Temporal and spatial benthic data collection via an internet operated Deep Sea Crawler. Methods in Oceanography, 5: 1-18. Thomsen, L, Barnes, C, Best, M, Chapman, R, Pirenne, B, Thomson, R, Vogt, J, 2012. Ocean circulation promotes methane release from gas hydrate outcrops at the NEPTUNE Canada Barkley Canyon node. Geophysical Research Letters, 39 (16): L16605, DOI: 10.1029/2012GL052462. |
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Document repository (shared documents - accessible only by participants):
