During the past two decades, marine research has focused on gas hydrates because of their potential importance as a future energy source, as a geologic hazard in deepwater hydrocarbon exploration, and because they may impact climate change (McConnell and Kendall, 2003; Smith et al., 2005). Worldwide assessments indicate that gas hydrate reserves may surpass the total hydrocarbon reserves from all other known resources of fossil fuels. Consequently, gas hydrates are considered to be a potential energy source for the 21st century.

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