The IPA action group on permafrost-associated gas hydrates held its kick-off meeting in April 2025, a progress meeting in September 2025, and multiple discussions among smaller sub-groups in between. We have been working towards building a geospatial directory of relevant gas hydrate and subsea permafrost metadata by establishing a list of key parameters and linking it with peer-reviewed articles, data repositories, as well as government and industry reports. Important parameters include, but are not limited to, water depth, sediment temperature, porewater salinity, permafrost characteristics, and the depth (top and bottom) of subsurface regions such as ice-bearing and ice-bonded permafrost, and the gas hydrate stability zone (GHSZ). The directory, which will be available in user-friendly GIS and Google Earth formats, will help plan future land-to-sea drilling transects and refine regional interpretations of the GHSZ. Our efforts also constitute preliminary work for an International Continental Drilling Project (ICDP) workshop proposal. Over the coming months, we also aim to integrate existing and previously published geospatial products into our directory, to maximize metadata availability for the user. Our plan is to produce a first draft of our deliverable by December 2025 and then work towards a funding renewal application in the new year.
Provided by Christine Olson
