Archive for Cold seeps

A Triptych of Seafloor Oases

Posted by Jeffrey Marlow 
· Wednesday, March 19th, 2014 
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On a 1979 return trip by scientists to the Galapagos Rift (this time including biologists), Alvin explored unexpected oases of life on the seafloor. Here, Alvin’s meter-long temperature probe extends toward a community of galatheid crabs perched atop pillow lava and a dense field of mussels. (Photo by Robert Hessler)

As the new and improved Alvin gets its sea legs, starting a new chapter of oceanographic discovery, many of us are looking back on the sub’s 50 years of exploration. As a geobiologist intrigued by the limits of life, many Alvin-supported discoveries have shaped my field, but three in particular stand out: the triptych of seafloor oases. Read More →

No Plug-and-play on the Seafloor

Posted by Lonny Lippsett 
· Wednesday, March 19th, 2014 
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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 →

Dive Delay

Posted by Lonny Lippsett 
· Monday, March 17th, 2014 
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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 →

About

From March 14 to 26, Peter Girguis, chair of DESSC (DEep Submergence Science Committee), will lead a group of scientists, including many veteran Alvin divers, from a host of research institutions to “road-test” the new vehicle on an expedition in the Gulf of Mexico. More »

More about

HOV Alvin
Alvin Upgrade
Rebuilding Alvin from Oceanus magazine

Participating Organizations

National Science Foundation
Office of Naval Research
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
   Administration
University-National Oceanographic
   Laboratory System
National Deep Submergence Facility
DEep Submergence Science Committee
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Alvin Science Verification Cruise
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