While searching the depths of the sea floor for marine life,
Jesse Ausubel realized something else. Out of the sea floor
sediments leaked methane, a natural gas, which mussels, tube
worms and other creatures thrived on. “These animals were living
off what we call methane seeps,” said Mr. Ausubel. “That was one
clue that methane is more abundant under the sea floor than we
had believed.” Mr. Ausubel discovered the methane seeps while
participating in the Census of Marine Life, a 10-year global
project to document the diversity and distribution of marine
life in the oceans. He is the director of the Program for the
Human Environment at Rockefeller University, and an adjunct
environmental scientist at the Oceanographic Institution in
Woods Hole. Mr. Ausubel began studying global warming in the
late 1970s, and thus became involved in energy systems affecting
climate change. He continues to research energy projects and
most recently assisted with the making of a documentary, Switch,
which explores world energy sys