The program goals are to understand natural gas hydrates in relation to energy resources, seafloor stability/drilling safety, and global carbon budget/climate effects. We seek to identify gas hydrate by remote sensing and to understand the processes that control methane hydrate in the natural environment, such as concentration into possibly extractable accumulations, change in strength of sediments and generation of overpressures, processes of seafloor mobilization, and processes allowing transfer of methane to the atmosphere.