May 22, 2024 04:34 PM
https://www.science.org/content/article/...eeper-ever
INTRO: In the northern Pacific Ocean, undersea slopes leading to the Aleutian Trench are believed to teem with worms, clams, anemones, and countless microbes thriving on methane bubbling up from the sediment. “People know they’re there,” Lisa Levin says of the deep-sea creatures. “But nobody’s had a good look.” One reason: Alvin, the iconic U.S. research submersible, could not dive deep enough.
Now, Levin, a University of California San Diego marine ecologist and biological oceanographer, is finally coming face to face with the otherworldly deep-sea ecosystem, thanks to a $50 million upgrade that will allow Alvin to dive up to 6500 meters deep. Levin’s mission, a survey of methane seeps off the coast of Alaska that embarked on 16 May, will mark the first crewed U.S. research expedition below 4500 meters, the submersible’s previous depth limit.
That limit allowed Alvin to reach about 68% of the ocean floor. But with its thicker titanium hull and stronger seals, Alvin can now reach about 99% of the ocean bottom—an expansion roughly equivalent to the combined areas of Asia, Africa, Europe, Australia, and North America—and match deeper diving submersibles operated by other nations.
The greater depth will give scientists a look at novel organisms and ecosystems, says Shana Goffredi, an Occidental College marine biologist on the Alaska expedition. Goffredi has studied life around shallower methane seeps, such as worms endowed with symbiotic microbes capable of converting methane into energy. Now, she wants to see whether the more extreme conditions at depths of about 5000 meters near the Aleutian Trench translate into different biological adaptations. “That’s one of the most exciting things about this expedition,” she says... (MORE - details)
https://youtu.be/XGVGOeTF_nQ
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/XGVGOeTF_nQ
INTRO: In the northern Pacific Ocean, undersea slopes leading to the Aleutian Trench are believed to teem with worms, clams, anemones, and countless microbes thriving on methane bubbling up from the sediment. “People know they’re there,” Lisa Levin says of the deep-sea creatures. “But nobody’s had a good look.” One reason: Alvin, the iconic U.S. research submersible, could not dive deep enough.
Now, Levin, a University of California San Diego marine ecologist and biological oceanographer, is finally coming face to face with the otherworldly deep-sea ecosystem, thanks to a $50 million upgrade that will allow Alvin to dive up to 6500 meters deep. Levin’s mission, a survey of methane seeps off the coast of Alaska that embarked on 16 May, will mark the first crewed U.S. research expedition below 4500 meters, the submersible’s previous depth limit.
That limit allowed Alvin to reach about 68% of the ocean floor. But with its thicker titanium hull and stronger seals, Alvin can now reach about 99% of the ocean bottom—an expansion roughly equivalent to the combined areas of Asia, Africa, Europe, Australia, and North America—and match deeper diving submersibles operated by other nations.
The greater depth will give scientists a look at novel organisms and ecosystems, says Shana Goffredi, an Occidental College marine biologist on the Alaska expedition. Goffredi has studied life around shallower methane seeps, such as worms endowed with symbiotic microbes capable of converting methane into energy. Now, she wants to see whether the more extreme conditions at depths of about 5000 meters near the Aleutian Trench translate into different biological adaptations. “That’s one of the most exciting things about this expedition,” she says... (MORE - details)
https://youtu.be/XGVGOeTF_nQ