Recent observations on the interaction of methane gas with ice surfaces have led to the suggestion that the resulting hydrate layer prevents the encapsulated ice from melting at its usual temperature. This would require ice to exist in a "superheated" state.(1) We have examined the product of the gas-solid reaction with H-1 NMR imaging. The imaging experiments show that the hydrate-encapsulated ice is able to melt at its usual melting point. As a possible alternative model, we suggest that a considerable amount of ice inside the hydrate layer can be converted to hydrate and liquid water under isothermal and constant volume conditions, the hydrate layer acting as an insulating, semipermeable layer that insulates processes inside the hydrate layer from external bulk temperature and pressure measurements.