WHOI marine geochemist Susan Humphris narrates scenes from Dive 4679, the first science mission after Alvin‘s recent comprehensive overhaul, highlighting the sub’s new imaging systems. HD cameras (including two pan-and-tilt units) and high-intensity LED lights promise to make stills and videos captured by scientists of the deep sea even more useful and spectacular. (Video courtesy of Peter Girguis, chief scientist, Harvard University; Funded by NSF; ©Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution; edited by Chris Linder, WHOI)
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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 →
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 →
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On March 15, 2014, the submersible Alvin conducted its first science mission since a major upgrade began in 2011. In the personnel sphere were WHOI scientist and leader of the upgrade project Susan Humphris, who commented on the sub’s performance, and Nathan Brown, a pilot-in-training, who received the traditional dousing with ice-cold water for first-time Alvin divers. (Video by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
Scientists and engineers boarded the research vessel Atlantis in New Orleans for the expedition to test the upgraded Alvin submersible. (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
The ship departed New Orleans at 0830 hours to head down the Mississippi River. A convoy of freighters passes Atlantis's starboard
side, going upriver. (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
The voyage down the muddy Mississippi took nine hours passing industrial areas in the delta region. (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
Atlantis reached the Gulf of Mexico and the open ocean as the moon rose over the Gulf--a delightful setting for WHOI scientist Adam Soule to do a little strumming on his ukulele. (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
Moonlight bathed the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, though most people on board were too busy preparing for today's Alvin dive to notice. (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
Alvin Expedition Leader Bruce Strickrott (right) consults with scientists Susan Humphris, who will take on its first science dive, and Don Nuzzio of Advanced Instrument Systems. (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
Nearly 900 days since its last research dive—and the most extensive upgrade in its nearly 50-year history—the submersible Alvin is scheduled to return to the depths this morning on a science mission. Everyone on board the R/V Atlantis, from scientists to pilots to ship’s crew, is abuzz and eager to launch the new, improved sub. Read More →
WHOI marine geochemist and head of the Alvin upgrade project discusses her upcoming dive in the newly upgraded Alvin on the eve of the sub’s first science mission since 2010. (Video by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
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 →