Alvin Science Verification Cruise
HOV Alvin March 2014
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Archive for Viewports

In the Ball

Posted by Lonny Lippsett and Chris Linder 
· Monday, March 24th, 2014 
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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.”

We’ve Got a Good Sub

Posted by Lonny Lippsett 
· Tuesday, March 18th, 2014 
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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 →

First Dive: Waiting for the smile

Posted by Lonny Lippsett 
· Sunday, March 16th, 2014 
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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 →

Not your grandfather’s Cadillac

Posted by Lonny Lippsett 
· Thursday, March 13th, 2014 

Since its birth in 1964, the deep-sea research submersible Alvin has been brought in every few years for overhauls. Most were routine maintenance—the submarine equivalent of a 30,000-mile servicing on your car. 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
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