Distribution and discovery of oceanic natural gas hydrates

Abstract

A crystalline solid called a gas hydrate has gas molecules surrounded by water molecules. There are several gases with suitable structures for the production of hydrates, but methane-rich gas hydrates are more common and form in seas and on the ocean. The place of hydrates formation is usually the sediment of the ocean floor and the polar regions, which largely covered with ice. It is also found in large quantities in combination with ambient ice in the ever-frozen polar regions. The importance of gas hydrates is due to the great ability of gas hydrates in natural gas storage, which makes it attractive to use them for the purposes of storing and transporting natural gas and other gases as a competitor to liquefaction and condensing methods. Due to the significance potential of these reserves as the world's future energy supplier and their direct impact on changes in climate conditions due to the greenhouse effect of methane, as well as their geological risks during water hydrocarbon discoveries, marine science researchers have been studying them over the past few years. Acoustic and seismic methods are helpful instruments for measuring subterranean hydrated reserves because there is not the technology to measure hydrated reserves directly.