Inaugural Gordon Research Conference on Natural Gas Hydrates

甲烷水合物普遍存在于北极地区和大陆边缘海洋沉积物中。它们是重要的甲烷档案，对温度和压力的变化极其敏感，因此在评估温室气体排放和大陆边缘斜坡稳定性方面具有潜在的重要意义。该奖项旨在鼓励研究生、博士后和其他人参加在缅因州科尔比学院举行的为期四天的首届戈登天然气水合物研究会议。研讨会汇集了来自学术界、政府和工业界的不同科学家群体。它侧重于在这些不同部门的研究人员之间建立联系，并为他们提供一个讨论与天然气水合物形成和销毁有关的地球化学、地球物理、微生物学和水文学问题的场所。这项工作的更广泛影响包括增加对一种潜在的重要替代能源和强温室气体(甲烷)的宿主矿物的认识。将作出特别努力并分配资金，以增加妇女和其他在科学界任职人数不足的群体参加讲习班的人数。

Methane gas hydrates are ubiquitous in arctic regions and in continental margin marine sediments. They are important archives of methane and are extremely sensitive to changes in temperature and pressure, making them potentially important in terms of assessing greenhouse gas emissions and continental margin slope stability. This award facilitates the participation of graduate students, postdocs and others in the four-day long inaugural Gordon Research Conference on Natural Gas Hydrates at Colby College in Maine. The workshop brings together a diverse group of scientists from academia, the government, and industry. It focuses on building bonds between researchers in these different sectors and provides a venue for them to discuss geochemical, geophysical, microbiological, and hydrological issues related to natural gas hydrate formation and destruction. Broader impacts of the work include increasing knowledge of a potential important alternative energy resource and host mineral of a strong greenhouse gas (methane). Special efforts will be made and funds are allocated to increase the participation in the workshop of women and other groups under-represented in the sciences.