With great pleasure, we announce that 8th International Workshop on Methane Hydrate Research & Development (Fiery Ice from the Seas) is being held in Sapporo, Japan at refreshing season, 28th of May to 1st of June, 2012.

For the last ten years, we, Fiery Ice Steering Committee members, have periodically organized and held an international workshop, "Fiery Ice form the Seas", in major cities in the world, such as Honolulu & Washington, D. C. (U. S. A.), Vina del Mar (Chile), Victoria (Canada), Edinburgh (UK), Bergen (Norway), and Wellington (New Zealand) in order to foster international collaboration by bringing together scientists from various disciplines to exchange the latest knowledge in gas hydrates research. Each of these workshops brought us a satisfactory outcome, being highly interactive and stimulating.

This 8th International Workshop will also provide all of the participants with opportunities to share their expertise such as analytical technologies and approaches to sampling protocol. Furthermore, the workshop will provide a platform for national representatives to introduce their gas hydrates problem.

The workshop will be composed of a plenary session and a display of poster session. These will be followed by breakout sessions on focus topics, in which all of the participants will be divided into several groups according to their interested topic, and then discuss future R & D challenges, information exchange, alignment of funding, and joint use of facilities.

With a cordial welcome, we are looking forward to seeing you at "8th Fiery Ice from the Seas" in Sapporo. You will find yourself in the workshop where you can meet the people you need to know. The organizers provide the opportunity to accelerate Methane Hydrate R & D and to make new collaboration through this workshop, for all who attend.

November 2011