Alvin deployed an instrument nicknamed the "six-shooter" that samples water every six hours to look for chemical changes caused by the tidal cycle. (Photo courtesy of Peter Girguis, chief scientist, Harvard University; Funding agencies: NSF, ONR, and NOAA; ©Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
The team from the University of Minnesota shows off its self-calibrating deep-sea instruments, nicknamed "Ghostbusters," which measure pH and temperature and detect chemical indications of life on the seafloor. From left, Kang Ding, Shinjun Wu, and Tan Chunyang. (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
WHOI scientist Chris German snapped this photo of a crab scuttling across the seafloor in the Gulf of Mexico while testing Alvin's downward-looking camera system on Monday. (Photo courtesy of Peter Girguis, chief scientist, Harvard University; Funding agencies: NSF, ONR, and NOAA; ©Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
In the early hours of Tuesday morning, R/V Atlantis bosun Patrick Hennessy prepares to launch a deep-sea camera prepared by WHOI's Multidisciplinary Instrumentation in Support of Oceanography (MISO) Facility. (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
Alvin dove Tuesday with veteran pilot Mike Skowronski and two pilots-in-training, Jefferson Grau and Phil Santos, who tested the rebuilt sub's new propulsion system. (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
Phil Santos, a pilot-in-training (PIT), receives the traditional baptism of ice-cold water following his first dive in Alvin by fellow PITs Chris Lathan, left, and Nathan Brown. (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)