The Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Leg 204 Scientific Party wishes to thank everyone who sailed aboard the JOIDES Resolution for making the cruise so successful and enjoyable. Our particular thanks go to Captain Peter Mowat, Drilling Superintendent Tim McCown, and ODP Operations Manager Mike Storms.

We recognize that several aspects of the logistics of this leg—almost no transit to, from, and between sites; the difficulties in handling and processing gas hydrate samples quickly; the amount and complexity of new instrumentation brought in for this leg; and the record-keeping complications caused by returning to sites multiple times—presented significant challenges to the personnel, supplies, and data handling on board. We thank the ODP staff and the crew of the JOIDES Resolution for responding to these challenges with efficiency and good humor. We are also grateful to the Catermar crew for ensuring a pleasant working environment.

The co-chief scientists would like to thank all the shipboard scientists, who worked so hard to make the leg a success. George Claypool deserves special mention for bringing his long-term expertise on methane in the seafloor and on issues related to drilling safety in this environment. We thank the ODP publications staff for their skill, patience, and hard work in producing this volume.

We wish to acknowledge the financial and logistical support from the many member countries of the Ocean Drilling Program. In addition, this cruise benefitted from support for new technologies from the U.S. Department of Energy and the European Union–funded HYACINTH program. The U.S. National Science Foundation and the NOAA Underwater Research Program provided support for essential precruise site survey data.

Finally, we thank Vern Kulm and Erwin Suess for their pioneering research on the vent systems of Cascadia.