Alvin Science Verification Cruise
HOV Alvin March 2014
  • Updates
  • About the Cruise
  • Participants
  • Alvin Upgrade
  • Photos & Videos

Archive for MC036

No Plug-and-play on the Seafloor

Posted by Lonny Lippsett 
· Wednesday, March 19th, 2014 
2125_Tweak cl_20140318215134-2 497_Tweak cl_20140318064236 cl_20140318084100 cl_20140318171613
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 
cl_20140317172830-2 cl_20140317173737 cl_20140317174725 cl_20140317174925-2 cl_20140317175409 cl_20140317175549-2 cl_20140317195329 cl_20140317195511-2
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.

Read More →

Dive Delay

Posted by Lonny Lippsett 
· Monday, March 17th, 2014 
cl_20140316122944 MC036_under2-1000 cl_20140316143042 cl_20140316145812 cl_20140316151019 cl_20140316072227
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

Categories

Adam Soule Amanda Demopoulos Bruce Strickrott Chris German Chris Linder Cindy van Dover Cold seeps Control systems Corals DESSC Dive plan Electronics Ergonomics Florida Escarpment Galapagos General George Luther Heather Olins History Hydrothermal vents Jefferson Grau Jonathan Howland Kang Ding Launch Life support system Lighting & imaging Lost City Manipulator arms MC036 NDSF Pat Hickey Personnel sphere Peter Girguis Pilots Sample basket Scott McCue Students Susan Humphris Thrusters Upgrade Verification cruise Video Feature Viewports VK862 Weather
Alvin Science Verification Cruise
Copyright © 2022 All Rights Reserved
iThemes Builder by iThemes
Powered by WordPress
All images copyright Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. For permission to use photos and videos on this site, contact media@whoi.edu.