Pilots :: Alvin Science Verification Cruise

HOV Alvin March 2014

Archive for Pilots

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 →

In the Ball

Posted by Lonny Lippsett and Chris Linder

· Monday, March 24th, 2014

Scientist Chris German (WHOI) and Kang Ding (University of Minnesota) take in the view from Alvin’s two new forward-looking viewports on either side of the pilot’s station. (Photo by Bruce Strickrott, WHOI; Courtesy of Peter Girguis, chief scientist, Harvard; Funding agencies: NSF, ONR, NOAA; ©Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Alvin Expedition Leader Bruce Strickrott demonstrates how he can stand up in the upgraded Alvin’s new larger 6.5-foot-diameter sphere, something he could never do in the old sub’s 6-foot-diameter sphere. (Photo by Kang Ding, University of Minnesota; Courtesy of Peter Girguis, chief scientist, Harvard; Funding agencies: NSF, ONR, NOAA; ©Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Alvin’s new sphere has padded benches and 18 percent more volume than its predecessor, adding a bit of comfort to a cramped space. On the way back to the surface, WHOI scientist Chris German makes notes. (Photo by Kang Ding, University of Minnesota; Courtesy of Peter Girguis, chief scientist, Harvard; Funding agencies: NSF, ONR, NOAA; ©Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

The new Alvin is also equipped with new digital controls that allow pilots to automatically, rather than manually, maintain altitude from the seafloor, speed, or a position. (Photo by Kang Ding, University of Minnesota; Courtesy of Peter Girguis, chief scientist, Harvard; Funding agencies: NSF, ONR, NOAA; ©Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Pilot Bob Waters, right, and University of Delaware chemist George Luther in Alvin’s new sphere, whose titanium hull is thicker than the old hull to someday extend the sub’s depth range to 6,500 meters. (Photo by Amanda Demopoulos, U.S. Geological Survey; Courtesy of Peter Girguis, chief scientist, Harvard; Funding agencies: NSF, ONR, NOAA; ©Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Pat Hickey, who has made more than 600 dives in Alvin, instructs Chris Lathan, an Alvin pilot-in-training. (Photo by Adam Soule, WHOI; Courtesy of Peter Girguis, chief scientist, Harvard; Funding agencies: NSF, ONR, NOAA; ©Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Tubeworms clusters around a crack on the Florida Escarpment, where chemical-rich groundwater seeps out into the sea. Symbiotic microbes inside the worms harvest energy from the chemicals and provide nourishment for the worms. (Photo by Adam Soule, WHOI; Courtesy of Peter Girguis, chief scientist, Harvard; Funding agencies: NSF, ONR, NOAA; ©Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Harvard University scientist Peter Girguis used Alvin’s manipulator arm to place a memorial plaque on the seafloor for Victoria Bertics, a former graduate student. (Photo by Peter Girguis, Harvard University; Courtesy of Peter Girguis, chief scientist, Harvard; Funding agencies: NSF, ONR, NOAA; ©Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

A slideshow of photos taken inside Alvin’s personnel sphere, nicknamed “the ball.”

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 →

Alvin’s Arm Exercises

Posted by Chris Linder

· Saturday, March 22nd, 2014

The upgraded Alvin added two new forward-looking viewports, and the sub’s two manipulator arms had to be adjusted so that they would not block the new views. The arms were given more flexibility at their shoulder joints so that they could swing farther out. A byproduct of that redesign is that the arms have extended their reach forward from 93 to 118 inches and expanded their coverage area from about 100 to 140 degrees.

Alvin pilots on this Science Verification Cruise are practicing working with Alvin‘s arms under field conditions on tasks they are routinely asked to perform, such as taking push cores to collect seafloor sediments and grabbing biological samples such as deep-sea clams. “After three years out of the water during the upgrade, it’s great to see the pilots get back into the swing of things,” said Chris German, chief scientist for the National Deep Submergence Facility at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. (Video courtesy of Peter Girguis, chief scientist, Harvard; Funding agencies: NSF, ONR, NOAA; ©Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution; Edited by Chris Linder, WHOI)

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.

Archive for Pilots

Is This the Day?

In the Ball

The Florida Escarpment

Alvin’s Arm Exercises

We’ve Got a Good Sub

About

More about

Participating Organizations

Archive for Pilots

Is This the Day?

In the Ball

The Florida Escarpment

Alvin’s Arm Exercises

We’ve Got a Good Sub

About

More about

Participating Organizations

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