WIRED: The Oldest Crewed Deep Sea Submarine Just Got a Big Makeover

WIRED Magazine interviews Alvin Group Manager Bruce Strickrott and Chief Scientist for Deep Submergence Adam Soule about the 6,500 meter overhaul.

Senior Engineer Lane Abrams with the Alvin birdcage. This frame holds all the the electronic components of the sub while it is disassembled. (© Daniel Hentz, WHOI)

Senior Electrical Engineer Lane Abrams moves from the drawing board to the deep ocean. Read the whole interview here.

Francis Elder tests the new hydraulicly powered intensifier pump for Alvin’s variable ballast system. The new pump was designed and built in-house and will be able to withstand the pressure at Alvin’s new depth of 6,500 meters. (Daniel Hentz © Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Lead Mechanical Engineer Francis Elder helps re-draw Alvin’s future. Read the full interview here.

Watch the Fall 2020 Meeting Press Briefing: Overhaul to take Human Occupied Vehicle Alvin to greater extremes

An Alvin team member prepares the sub for recovery after its 5000th dive in November 2018. (Photo by Drew Beweley, ©Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

One of the world’s most prolific research submersibles will put 99% of the ocean floor within reach of science community when it relaunches in 2021. Read the full press release.

The ROV Jason rises from the deep after diving in the International District Hydrothermal Field. Credit: University of Washington.

ROV Jason is at sea on the R/V Thompson for a 30-day maintenance cruise to service the Regional Cabled Array. From University of Washington’s Interactive Oceans: Jason will again be diving to depths as great as 9500 ft beneath the oceans’ surface, on the highly active summit of Axial Seamount where underwater hot springs covered…

Using samples collected by ROV Jason II and Nereus, Scientists analyzing hydrothermal fluid from Piccard vents at Mid-Cayman Rise found “non-biological processes deplete hydrogen that was thought to be readily available to subseafloor microbial communities; discovery could impact global hydrogen budget.” Read the article here.

Jason Sylvan from Texas A&M talks about exploring the East Pacific Rise at 9°50’N in HOV Alvin. “I was blown away with just how much different it is actually being there and looking out a window and seeing the site right in front of you,” he told Gizmodo. Watch the video and read the whole…