Mathematics – Logic
Scientific paper
Dec 2006
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006agufmmr31a..07m&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2006, abstract #MR31A-07
Mathematics
Logic
0714 Clathrate, 3004 Gas And Hydrate Systems, 5410 Composition (1060, 3672), 6225 Mars, 6281 Titan
Scientific paper
Methane appears to be widespread on Earth and Titan, and is likely present on Mars and Europa. A number of other bodies, such as the gas giants and many moons, have the conditions required to host methane hydrate. Methane appears to be widely distributed in our solar system, at least beyond Venus. On Earth, methane is a fundamental part of the biosphere system in which both biogenic and thermogenic methane contribute to a strong methane gas flux from both oceans and continents to the atmosphere. Methane hydrate, which occurs in permafrost regions but is volumetrically and climatologically much more important in oceanic regions, is a prime sequestrator of methane. Oceanic methane hydrate is very responsive to changes in environment (temperature and pressure related to sea level change) and is a major factor in global climate change, having many of the feedback characteristics that potentially affect global climate. Methane has been discovered in the atmosphere of Mars and is generally regarded as leaking from the Martian sub-surface. If so, then it is extremely likely that there are very large quantities of subsurface methane in its concentrated, solid crystalline form, methane hydrate. These may be close enough to the surface to reach by shallow drilling. On Titan, methane is present in gases in the atmosphere and, from time to time, in its liquid form in surficial lakes, and almost certainly in it solid form, gas hydrate, where water is present. Methane hydrate concentrates methane by a factor of about 164 above its normal gas concentration (at STP) on Earth. It maintains this concentration factor wherever it occurs. Thus, methane hydrate provides the basic elements necessary for human existence on Earth as well as elsewhere in the solar system (for the production of hydrogen, oxygen, water, fuels, and as a feedstock for plastic production). The water produced in this way is nearly pure, requiring little treatment to be potable. Methane hydrate is also readily converted to higher energy density liquid fuels (e.g., liquid petroleum and liquid oxygen), providing the potential for "hydrate gas stations" that can support human exploration and settlements throughout a large part of the solar system.
Clifford Stephen M.
Max Michael D.
Osegovic John P.
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