Drs. Pecher and Coffin are coleaders with Dr. Lowell Stott (University of Southern California) to organize an International Ocean Discovery Plan (IODP) research expedition on the Chatham Rise off of the Eastern Coast of New Zealand, where we observed methane gas hydrate instability and gas escape that coincided with raised temperature and lowered pressure. During June and July 2020 Dr. Pecher lead an expedition to obtain geophysics data required for a drilling plan and in November 2020 Dr. Coffin submitted a proposal to the National Science Foundation to conduct piston coring and geochemical data analysis on the sites.