- Number 338 |
- May 30, 2011
New repository for natural gas hydrate sediment cores opens
Kelly Rose, of NETL¹s Office of
Research and Development,
aboard the drillship Rem Etive
with drill cores.
Since 2005, DOE's National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) has been heavily involved in coring expeditions in support of natural gas hydrate research worldwide. The collected cores provide priceless geologic, physical properties, and geochemical information critical to research conducted by field scientists, experimentalists, and modelers. However, access to these unique cores has been limited and uncoordinated, and the cores have been subject to loss or destruction due to inadequate storage conditions until now.
A unique facility, established by NETL along with Oregon State University (OSU) at its College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences’ Marine Geology Repository (MGR), includes the addition of a large -10 °F walk-in freezer at the MGR and a -86 °C ultra-low temperature freezer. These NETL-supplied freezers expand the Repository’s long-term storage capabilities of samples and cores that must remain frozen for preservation. The NETL-OSU Repository is a critical step in establishing a core legacy that will aid researchers for generations to come on the impact of gas hydrates on climate change, earth systems, and energy production potential.
[Linda Morton, 304.285.4543,
Linda.morton@netl.doe.gov]
