Lonny Lippsett

HOV Alvin March 2014

Author Archive for Lonny Lippsett

Is This the Day?

Posted by Lonny Lippsett

· Monday, March 24th, 2014

Alvin pilot Bruce Strickrott conducts pre-dive safety training with Dan MacDonald, a University of Delaware graduate student. All potential Alvin divers are fitted with Emergency Breathing Apparatus masks that are tested to ensure they seal tightly around their faces. (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Duke University scientist Cindy van Dover donned her EBA in Alvin’s personnel sphere Sunday, following training protocols. When a CO₂ scrubber malfunctioned, the mission was aborted and the sub and occupants surfaced safely. (Photo by Jefferson Grau, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Every time you board an airplane, you get the speech: “In the event of a loss of cabin pressure, oxygen masks will appear …”

Alvin is similarly equipped with Emergency Breathing Apparatus, or EBAs, and pilots and scientists diving in the sub are scrupulously briefed on how to use them in case of an emergency during a dive.

Alvin Expedition Leader Bruce Strickrott has performed hundreds of these training briefings. “I think about it every time I dive: ‘Is this the day I’ll have to wear one of these?’ ” he said. Read More →

The Florida Escarpment

Posted by Lonny Lippsett

· Saturday, March 22nd, 2014

Atlantis crew members Patrick Neumann and Allison Heater were the swimmers assisting Alvin’s recovery Friday. They are about to attach safety lines to support Alvin’s payload basket before it is lifted from the water. (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Alvin Expedition Leader Bruce Strickrott isn't arm wrestling with Alvin’s portside manipulator arm, but rather placing a sampling device into its gripper. (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Veteran Alvin Pilot Pat Hickey, right, loads weights onto the sub with Jefferson Grau, a pilot-in-training, before Friday's dive in the Gulf of Mexico. (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Pilot-in-training Jefferson Grau retrieves shoes of Pilot-in-training Chris Lathan and Alvin Pilot Pat Hickey, who dove in the sub Friday. Pilots and passengers leave their shoes behind when they dive to reduce dirt and debris inside the sub’s personnel sphere. (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

WHOI marine geologist Adam Soule went straight from bed to ball (the nickname for Alvin’s personnel sphere), oversleeping before his dive Friday. (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Able-bodied Seaman Patrick Neumann swims back up to the small boat dispatched from Atlantis to assist with Alvin’s recovery. (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Amanda Demopoulos, a biologist at the U.S. Geological Survey, shows off deep-sea mussels collected on Friday’s dive to the Florida Escarpment. (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

WHOI scientist Adam Soule used Atlantis’s multibeam sonar to create this seafloor map of Friday’s dive site on the Florida Escarpment. (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

On the morning he was scheduled to dive in Alvin, Adam Soule slept soundly. So soundly, in fact, that he slept through his alarm. The Alvin Group and the ship’s crew were just about finished preparing for Friday’s dive when Soule’s roommate aboard the research vessel Atlantis, Jeff Marlow, roused him so he could make his appointment to go to the bottom of the ocean. Read More →

Tweaks and Troubleshooting

Posted by Lonny Lippsett

· Friday, March 21st, 2014

Peter Girguis, chief scientist of the Alvin Science Verification Cruise, stands before the sub during nighttime tests of the sub's lighting. Scientists and engineers are experimenting with adding and positioning lights to optimize Alvin's imaging capabilities. (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

On Thursday, scientists on the Alvin Verification Cruise adjusted high-intensity LED lights on the sub’s “brow” and just above the forward viewports (not seen in this drawing) to perfect the lighting so they can obtain sharp, shadow- and glare-free photos and videos from the sub. (Illustration by E. Paul Oberlander, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

The whole objective of this research cruise is to test a newly rebuilt Alvin equipped with upgraded systems that had never been used before by scientists under field conditions. Scientists and engineers expected hiccups and learning curves. After four test dives of Alvin, it was time to tweak, troubleshoot, and optimize. Read More →

Riding in Style

Posted by Lonny Lippsett

· Thursday, March 20th, 2014

The A-frame at the stern of the research vessel Atlantis positions Alvin to be lowered into the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday morning. (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Atlantis chief mate Peter Leonard leaps off Alvin carrying a safety line back to a small boat dispatched from Atlantis. Leonard and Shipboard Scientific Services Group technician Allison Heater were Wednesday's "swimmers," who play important roles in launching and recovering the sub. (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

SSSG technician Allison Heater swims back to Atlantis' small boat after assisting in Wednesday's launch. She holds a sound-phone used to talk with Alvin's pilot inside the sealed personnel sphere, keeping it above water so it won't get wet. (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Able-bodied seaman Raul Martinez swims toward Alvin during Wednesday's recovery. (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Ordinary seaman Ronnie Whims drives the small boat with able-bodied seaman Patrick Neumann aboard to retrieve the line to secure the sub to Atlantis. (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Amanda Demopoulos, a biologist at the U.S. Geological Survey, and University of Delaware chemist George Luther were the scientists who dove in Alvin Wednesday with Pilot Bob Waters. (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

George Luther (left) of the University of Delaware and Don Nuzzio of Analytical Instrument Systems prepare their instrument on Alvin's payload basket the evening before a dive. (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Expedition chief scientist Peter Girguis and Jennifer Delaney of Harvard University extract the viscera of a deep-sea clam collected by Alvin Wednesday. A preserved sample will be sent to the Ocean Genome Legacy, which aims to archive the DNA of every marine species and make the data available to scientists. (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Two more veteran deep-sea scientists took their turn Wednesday to test-drive the upgraded Alvin. They came on this expedition to assess the sub’s new capabilities, find faults to be fixed, and report to their scientific peers. In a way, they were perfectly willing human guinea pigs. As much as they were testing Alvin, the sub was being tested on them. Read More →

No Plug-and-play on the Seafloor

Posted by Lonny Lippsett

· Wednesday, March 19th, 2014

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)

After a decade of planning, designing, engineering, and construction, an upgraded Alvin has been delivered to the nation’s scientific community.

“So then what? What do you do? Brand-new submarine, fresh off the lot,” said Peter Girguis, chair of the Deep Submergence Science Committee (DESSC), a group of scientists that advises on the best use and operations of the sub. Read More →

We’ve Got a Good Sub

Posted by Lonny Lippsett

· Tuesday, March 18th, 2014

Swimmers Raul Martinez (front) and Mike Skowronski battled rough seas while attaching the lift line to Alvin during recovery to the research vessel Atlantis Monday. (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Engineer Rick Sanger of the Alvin Operations Group waits for scientists and pilot to emerge after Monday’s dive in the Gulf of Mexico. (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Back on deck after his dive to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution scientist Chris German is surrounded by eager scientists (and one journalist) as he describes what he saw and how the sub performed. (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Alvin Pilot Bruce Strickrott grabs a cup of coffee after his dive Monday and discusses how it went with the expedition’s chief scientist, Peter Girguis of Harvard University. (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Alvin pilot Bruce Strickrott tested the the sub's newly reconfigured manipulator arms by collecting a rock for California Institute of Technology graduate student Jeff Marlow, who split it open to find it full of organisms. (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Tan Chunyang, an engineer from the University of Minnesota, was all smiles as he retrieved his lab’s instrument, which was successfully used on Monday’s Alvin dive. (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Shortly after Monday’s dive, Alvin pilot Bob Waters was already hard at work preparing the sub for the next dive. (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

University of Delaware scientist George Luther (back) and UD graduate student Dan Macdonald prepare an instrument from their lab for Tuesday's dive. (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

You’ve been driving the same car for two decades, then somebody hands you the keys to a 2014 version of the same model. The brand-new car has automatic controls you’ve never seen before, a stiffer ride that takes the curves tighter, and a larger interior that’s more comfortable, but still takes some getting used to. That’s what it’s like in the new Alvin.

Dive Delay

Posted by Lonny Lippsett

· Monday, March 17th, 2014

Heavy rains and high winds forced the cancellation of yesterday’s dive to cold seeps and deep-water corals at Mississippi Canyon (MC) 036. (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

In 2010, WHOI’s autonomous underwater vehicle Sentry mapped MC036, the location of the next dive. In 2011, deep-sea corals were discovered at the site 1095 meters below the sea surface. (Image courtesy of NOAA/NRDA)

Alvin Expedition Leader Bruce Strickrott fits and tests an emergency breathing apparatus (EBA) for University of Minnesota engineer Tan Chunyang. The EBAs are used only in extreme emergencies. Normally, tanks in the personnel sphere supply oxygen and a "scrubber" removes carbon dioxide. (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Nathan Brown, an engineer in the Alvin Group, removed the side panels of the sub to check a system in preparation for a dive. (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Engineer Jefferson Grau, prepares for a dive in the Alvin Group workspace aboard the research vessel Atlantis. (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

As dawn broke, the waves in the Gulf of Mexico had a little more pep—a harbinger of higher winds to come. (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

It may be small consolation to any folks up north who are facing yet another winter snowstorm, but the weather hasn’t been so great down here in the Gulf of Mexico either. Read More →

First Dive: Waiting for the smile

Posted by Lonny Lippsett

· Sunday, March 16th, 2014

Nathan Brown, an Alvin pilot-in-training, cleans a forward-looking viewport on the sub in the early-morning hours before Alvin was launched on its first research dive since 2010. It would be Brown’s first dive in Alvin. (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Chris Lathan, an Alvin pilot-in-training, checks one of the pan-and-tilt cameras before the sub’s launch. (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Pilot-in-training Nathan Brown (left) and WHOI scientist Susan Humphris talk with Harvard scientist Peter Girguis, chief scientist of the expedition and chair of the Deep Submergence Science Committee (DESSC). The committee advises on use of vehicles in the National Deep Submergence Facility at WHOI, including Alvin. (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Veteran Alvin pilot Bob Waters (left) discusses equipment loaded onto the sub’s payload basket, including a sensor built by Don Nuzzio of Analytical Instrument Systems (right). (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Alvin rolls on its track toward the A-frame of the research vessel Atlantis, with pilot-in-training Jefferson Grau riding shotgun. (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Alvin pilot-in-training Jefferson Grau gets under the hood, so to speak, before a dive. (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Alvin Pilot-in-training Chris Lathan peers through the pilot’s viewport as pilot-in-training Jefferson Grau prepares the vehicle for launch. (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Ordinary seaman Ronnie Whims rides atop Alvin while communicating with the sub's pilot inside. The swimmers assist with Alvin launches from and recoveries to Atlantis. (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Alvin, the nation’s only deep-sea research submarine, took its first scientific dive yesterday [March 15] after a 39-month hiatus and a major overhaul that dramatically upgraded the sub. Read More →

Author Archive for Lonny Lippsett

Is This the Day?

The Florida Escarpment

Tweaks and Troubleshooting

Riding in Style

No Plug-and-play on the Seafloor

We’ve Got a Good Sub

Dive Delay

First Dive: Waiting for the smile

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Author Archive for Lonny Lippsett

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