Abstract
Abstract : A commercially produced solid state methane sensor (METS) from ASD Sensortechnik Gmgh (Germany) was used to obtain methane concentrations in sea water in the vicinity of methane hydrates. The use of semiconductor technology and membrane separation of methane (and other hydrocarbons) from the water column has been incorporated into the METS sensor. The response time is slow (minutes) and consequently complete equilibrium may never be reached depending upon the application of the sensor. The METS sensor was positioned on top of the forward platform of the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution's (HBOI) submersible, Johnson-Sea-Link I. This position enabled the sensor to be placed in the vicinity of methane hydrates. The Texas- Louisiana Shelf in the Gulf of Mexico was selected for investigation because of the existence of methane hydrates on the seafloor. The data reported here ranges from low umol/l concentrations in no hydrate areas to umol/l concentrations in the vicinity of hydrates. Mussel beds and brine pools exhibited concentrations intermediate to these two extremes. Even though response and recover time of the sensor can be slow when encountering high methane concentrations, interesting detail was obtained on several of the dives.
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