Alvin unleashed

By Hannah Piecuch | November 3, 2021

The moment when Alvin released from Atlantis and began it first untethered dive. (Photo by Ken Kostel, ©Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Alvin passed another critical milestone yesterday with its first untethered post-overhaul dives.

Doomed to succeed

By Hannah Piecuch | November 2, 2021

A long day’s dive made for a dramatic nighttime recovery. (Photo by Ken Kostel, ©Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Alvin completes incline test, paving the way for open ocean dives. How simulated dives debug Alvin’s software before actual dives take place.

First dive

By Hannah Piecuch | November 1, 2021

Alvin’s first post-overhaul dive. (Photo by Ken Kostel, ©Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Alvin finishes in-water tests of electrical and mechanical systems and dives briefly to test the variable ballast system.

Cape Cod Times: After $50M upgrade, research sub Alvin can reach 99% of ocean floor

By Hannah Piecuch | October 28, 2021

Research submersible Alvin prepares for a dive. Luis Lamar © Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Read a feature in Cape Cod Times about Alvin’s 6500 meter overhaul and the scientists who will use the sub at its new depth.

Atlantis left Woods Hole around 2:45 yesterday with a storm building across our path to Bermuda, so we’ve taken a westerly course parallel to the coast with plans to turn 90 degrees left this afternoon and make a beeline across the Gulf Stream. That should allow us to miss the worst of what was in…

To sea—without leaving the dock

By Hannah Piecuch | October 21, 2021

Alvin pilot Danik Forsman (right) was joined by pilots-in-training Nick Osadcia and Kaitlyn Beardshear for a simulated dive on emergency air during the sub’s ongoing sea trials. (Photo by Ken Kostel © Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) Atlantis hasn’t left the dock in Woods Hole yet and Alvin hasn’t touched the water since the completion of…

NDSF user spotlight: Shawn Arellano on cold seep larvae and science with all three NDSF vehicles

By Hannah Piecuch | October 20, 2021

Shawn Arellano (Associate Professor, Western Washington University) gets ready to dive to the cold seep site, Green Canyon 234 (~550 m), in the Gulf of Mexico.

Shawn Arellano is a larval biologist and deep-sea ecologist and an associate professor at Western Washington University. Arellano has recently used all three NDSF vehicles as part of a collaborative project that focuses on the larvae of cold seep animals on both the Atlantic and Gulf sides of Florida. The lead principal investigator on this project…

Meet the Alvin 6500 Team: Lisa Smith

By Hannah Piecuch | October 19, 2021

Alvin Certification Coordinator Lisa Smith standing in front of an updated HOV Alvin which is tucked on board the newly refurbished R/V Atlantis (Photo Ken Kostel ©WHOI).

Alvin certification coordinator on a dream that was decades in the making. Read the whole story.

Seeker: Reengineering An Iconic Sub To Explore Alien Worlds

By Hannah Piecuch | October 10, 2021

Deep sea submersible Alvin reveals mysteries hiding on the ocean floor. Watch on Seeker.

Jason helps recover two other underwater vehicles

By Hannah Piecuch | September 4, 2021

Control van for ROV Jason. Ocean Exploration Trust’s ROV Hercules and Argus were stranded on the seafloor last week, but were recovered thanks to cooperation from several ocean science and exploration institutions. Read how ROV Jason helped with the recovery.