Stephan Ker from Ifremer (the French national institute for marine research) and co-authors including  Graham Westbrook and Tim Minshull from G&G have published a paper in Geophysical Journal International that uses novel deep-towed seismic data and a novel technique to infer the detailed properties of gas pockets in marine sediments.  The seismic data were collected offshore Svalbard in the Arctic during a cruise led by Tim Minshull, using SYSIF, a new low-frequency Chirp profiling system developed by Ifremer.  These data show numerous high-amplitude reflectors, some with negative polarity (as expected for gas pockets) and some enigmatic ones with positive polarity.  Using a technique called the wavelet transform, the paper shows that the positive polarity reflectors can result from thin pockets of gas, while negative polarity reflectors may be associated with a patchy distribution of gas rather than a continuous gas body.

To read the paper click here.