NEWS NOTES ON SUSTAINABLE WATER RESOURCESGas Hydrates “Clathrate hydrates, or gas clathrates , gas hydrates , clathrates , hydrates , etc., are crystalline water-based solids physically resembling ice, in which small non-polarmolecules (typically gases) or polar molecules with large hydrophobic moieties are trapped inside "cages" of hydrogen bonded, frozen water molecules.”“Clathrates have been found to occur naturally in large quantities. Around 6.4 trillion (6.4×1012) tonnes of methane is trapped in deposits of methane clathrate on the deep ocean floor. Such deposits can be found on the Norwegian continental shelf in the northern headwall flank of the Storegga Slide. Clathrates can also exist as permafrost, as at the Mallik gas hydrate site in the Mackenzie Delta of northwestern Canadian Arctic. These natural gas hydrates are seen as a potentially vast energy resource, but an economical extraction method has so far proven elusive.”The USGS carries out a project on gas hydrates. More information can be found at https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-are-gas-hydrates?qt-news_science_products=0#qt-news_science_products“Gas hydrates are important for three reasons:They may contain a major energy resourceIt may be a significant hazard because it alters sea floor sediment stability, influencing collapse and land slidingThe hydrate reservoir may have strong influence on the environment and climate, because methane is a significant greenhouse gas.”