Advances in Marine Gas Hydrate Exploration and Discovery

Dear Colleagues,

Natural gas hydrate has been widely accepted as a clean energy with great potential. Some countries, with powerful technology, especially those that have strong demands for fossil fuels, have put extensive efforts into conducting studies on the exploration and development of gas hydrate surrounding continental margins. The academic and industrial communities have also paid enthusiastic attention by conducting studies concerning the mechanism of hydrate accumulation and how it affects resources and the environment. In recent years, breakthroughs in gas hydrate exploration have been made in many regions around the world, showing good prospects in terms of exploration and development. However, the mechanisms of hydrate accumulation, resource evaluation, and environmental impacts have still not been fully answered, which restricts the exploitation and utilization of hydrate resources and necessitates further research.

The aim of this Special Issue is to advance research on gas hydrate exploration and discovery in continental margins, with an emphasis on the mechanism of accumulation and the assessment of marine hydrate's environmental and resource benefits. Papers on the following topics are welcome: gas hydrate exploration, exploration theory and technology, the distribution and occurrence of hydrates in nature, resource appraisal techniques and technology, environmental monitoring, and the relationship between hydrates and climate change. Both review and research papers are welcome to be submitted.

Topics of interest for this Special Issue include, but are not limited to, the following:

1. Geological, geophysical, and geochemical method for the exploration of gas hydrate;
2. Dynamic gas hydrate system and methane recycling;
3. Hydrate occurrence associated with cold seeps;
4. Resource evaluation and prediction methods;
5. Environmental monitoring and evaluation of the gas hydrate system;
6. The interaction between climate change and the gas hydrate system;
7. New technology and applications in gas hydrate exploration.

Dr. Wei Zhang
Prof. Dr. Pibo Su
Dr. Jiliang Wang
Prof. Dr. Qianyong Liang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• gas hydrate system
• resource evaluation and prediction
• accumulation mechanism
• environmental monitoring and evaluation