Global Climate Impacts of Methane Seeps (CliMetS)

CliMetS focuses on global collaboration to advance its mission, with the following objectives:

1. To promote methane seep-related capacity sharing and knowledge exchange. The goals of these activities are directed by regional working groups and their existing research clusters, and are developed by local teams in Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, and Southeast Asia. These activities include methane seep observation, monitoring, and research.
2. To organize joint research and training cruises which can carry out observation, monitoring, and research. These surveys will create distribution maps of global methane seep ecosystems and help to understand how they function over time.
3. To conduct interdisciplinary research which helps us understand the fate and pathways of marine methane, while also permitting an assessment of the biodiversity and global biogeography of seep ecosystems.
4. To develop innovative observation technologies and analytical methods. These will help us assess possible environmental impacts and risks of marine methane release on the seafloor and in coastal areas. And
5. To work in conjunction with the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO and other public policy institutions such that the research conducted by CliMetS will be publicly accessible and will allow for informed decision-making and policy development regarding seafloor methane seeps.

Start Date: 01/01/2025
End Date: 31/12/2034

Lead Contact: Peiyuan Qian (boqianpy@ust.hk)