It is cold, dark and cramped. But Lisa Levin will be beaming later this month when she boards a small submersible called Alvin and descends three miles into the unforgiving waters off Alaska.
The UC San Diego researcher will take a two-and-a-half-hour trip to the sea floor, where she will press her face against a small window to continue her study of methane, one of the gases that contributes significantly to global warming.
It will be a big moment for her – and for Alvin, a Navy-owned submersible that can accommodate just three people.
Alvin celebrates 60 years of often historic research, including helping to verify the nature of the Earth’s tectonic plates. And Levin, who works at UCSD’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, was one of the few scientists granted research time aboard the submarine this year.
She is one of the most experienced deep-sea explorers in the world, having completed 55 dives at Alvin, whose depth range was recently increased to 4 miles, more than a mile deeper than she is. was. And this time, Levin will travel hundreds of meters deeper than she has ever dared.
“We’ll be able to see the bioluminescence through the window as we descend,” said Levin, who was in San Diego Bay on Friday to help prepare Alvin for the trip to Alaska. The first dives will take place in approximately two weeks.
Levin will examine methane escaping from the seabed, in areas filled with microbes and small animals.
“They are excellent methane filters, removing it before it even enters the water,” Levin said. “We are trying to understand the fate of methane: where it goes, who eats it. All of this is useful for understanding how the ocean works and how it can change.
Levin, 69, is technically retired. She has emeritus status and no longer teaches classes. But the diving won’t stop anytime soon.
“I’m doing more of what I love to do,” she said.
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