What are methane hydrates?
Geekspeak: Methane hydrates are described in a paper (pdf) (Sassen et al., 2001) as “an ice-like crystalline mineral in which hydrocarbon gases and non-hydrocarbon gases are held within rigid cages of water molecules.” Translation: A methane hydrate is a mineral that’s an odd combination of methane and water. You can think of it as methane trapped in an ice cage. And here’s the cool thing: if you put a match to methyl hydrate crystals, they burn. Check it out: Fire from ice: burning methane hydrate crystals: (Image credit: Office of Naval Research) Basic molecular structure of a methane hydrate crystal (the methane molecule is in the middle): (Image credit: USGS) Where are methane hydrates found? Diagrams can speak a thousand words: (Image courtesy of NETL) The key things to note in that diagram are “deep ocean deposit”, “Arctic permafrost deposit”, and “drilling”… … which brings us back to politics.
