Aqueous flux measurements at the Bush Hill hydrate mound, Gulf of Mexico

As part of a collaborative and multidisciplinary project between Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Georgia Tech, and Rice, we deployed seven Scripps CAT meters (Tryon et al., 2001) in the Bush Hill hydrate mound area of the Gulf of Mexico. Our purpose was to (1) provide quantitative measurements to enhance the physical and chemical framework for assisted biological findings from the NSF-Life in Extreme Environments (LExEN) program, (2) produce standalone quantitative constraints to refine the relationships of fluxes and flux pathways to dynamics of gas hydrate reservoirs, and (3) yield site survey data for proposed ODP gas hydrates-related drilling (Kennicutt, GERG-TAMU, lead proponent). The results serve to warn us that simple models of gas, fluid and energy transport are not applicable to many gas hydrate environments. High degrees of spatial and temporal variability may be the norm in the shallow gas hydrate environment. Only through long-term measurements over a significant spatial extent will we be able to adequately constrain these models.