Page path:
Bremen International Graduate School for Marine Sciences
Stefan Wenau
Report of GLOMAR PhD student Stefan Wenau about his participation in the Gordon Research Conference on Natural Gas Hydrate Systems, Ventura, USA, 18 - 23 March 2012
This conference took place in the Ventura Beach Marriott hotel located roughly one hour drive north of Los Angeles. The organization of this event differentiates it from other large conferences. Talks were only given by invited speakers and lasted for 40 minutes, giving ample time for broad presentations on specific aspects of gas hydrates and for starting a productive discussion in the following 20 minutes discussion time. In my opinion this format was ideal to introduce complex and controversial topics of ongoing research while also giving the audience the opportunity to question presented material.
Poster presentations were hosted inside the lecture hall with all breaks used for discussion alongside with the official poster sessions after lunch and in the evening. Due to the small number of participants, student posters were left on display throughout the whole week of the conference, resulting in many fruitful discussions. Furthermore, the hosting of the conference and all accommodation in one hotel simplified communication with all participants over meals and after the official end of talks.
My own poster presentation dealt with my current work on a spatial assessment of methane seepage activity in the Lower Congo Basin. I showed bathymetric data augmented with backscatter information, TV-sled observations and gravity coring results along with multichannel seismic data. As this is ongoing work that is meant to contribute towards my second manuscript, all discussions I had with people from different fields were highly valuable in discussing my argumentation and coming up with alternative interpretation of my data.
Although the number of participants was rather small with only just above 100 people attending, the variety of topics was very broad. Presentations ranged from chemistry and gas hydrate formation modeling to the behavior of methane in the water column and extraterrestrial occurrences of gas hydrates on Titan and Mars.
Besides the productive conference proper, a field trip was offered on the subject of petroleum geology in the vicinity. Unfortunately, places on this trip were restricted to a maximum of 30 people. Nevertheless, the area is very interesting for people dealing with hydrocarbon geology as petroleum production has been ongoing for a long time and small drill rigs can be seen just offshore the coast. Also tar balls from natural hydrocarbon seeps are continuously washed ashore and can be seen on the beach.
All in all, the Gordon Research Conference was a very good event due to the organization and format, allowing for much more interaction with participants than larger meetings. Therefore, I can recommend this event for students dealing with all aspects of gas hydrates.
Poster presentations were hosted inside the lecture hall with all breaks used for discussion alongside with the official poster sessions after lunch and in the evening. Due to the small number of participants, student posters were left on display throughout the whole week of the conference, resulting in many fruitful discussions. Furthermore, the hosting of the conference and all accommodation in one hotel simplified communication with all participants over meals and after the official end of talks.
My own poster presentation dealt with my current work on a spatial assessment of methane seepage activity in the Lower Congo Basin. I showed bathymetric data augmented with backscatter information, TV-sled observations and gravity coring results along with multichannel seismic data. As this is ongoing work that is meant to contribute towards my second manuscript, all discussions I had with people from different fields were highly valuable in discussing my argumentation and coming up with alternative interpretation of my data.
Although the number of participants was rather small with only just above 100 people attending, the variety of topics was very broad. Presentations ranged from chemistry and gas hydrate formation modeling to the behavior of methane in the water column and extraterrestrial occurrences of gas hydrates on Titan and Mars.
Besides the productive conference proper, a field trip was offered on the subject of petroleum geology in the vicinity. Unfortunately, places on this trip were restricted to a maximum of 30 people. Nevertheless, the area is very interesting for people dealing with hydrocarbon geology as petroleum production has been ongoing for a long time and small drill rigs can be seen just offshore the coast. Also tar balls from natural hydrocarbon seeps are continuously washed ashore and can be seen on the beach.
All in all, the Gordon Research Conference was a very good event due to the organization and format, allowing for much more interaction with participants than larger meetings. Therefore, I can recommend this event for students dealing with all aspects of gas hydrates.
