HOV Alvin
Comiclog: Verifying what?
What’s Alvin going to do with that 6500 certification? It’s bringing people to so much more of the seafloor-and bringing back samples so we can learn more about the ocean and our planet. Here’s artist-at-sea Karen Romano Young’s comic log post taking a look at the business end of Alvin, it’s science payload.
Read MoreIt’s official!
A team at NAVSEA headquarters stands beneath a replica of Alvin as it appeared in the late-1970s. From left to right: Kim Tran (SEA 05), Chip Tucker (SEA 05), Van Lien (SEA 05), Kurt Crake (SEA 05), Mike Breslin (Executive Director PEO-SSN), Brian Pelletier (PMS394), Kip Grantham (PMS394), Emily Donowick (SEA05), Jae-Yoo Ko (SEA 07Q),…
Read MoreBack to our regularly scheduled science
Bruce Strickrott smiles as Chief Scientist Adam Soule signs the final pre-dive check sheet for the first science dive since Alvin received its 6,500 meter certification. Marley Parker â’¸ Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution A warm Caribbean breeze bounces around the bow of the R/V Atlantis as we sail away from the port of San Juan.…
Read MoreSegal’s law of navigation
WHOI software engineer Stefano Suman inside Alvin with the sub’s navigation screen above him. (Photo by Ken Kostel, ©Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) Segal’s Law states (albeit ironically) that someone with one watch will always know what time it is, but someone with two watches is never sure. There’s a deeper truth to that adage that…
Read MoreTroubleshooting Alvin
Rick Sanger preps Alvin for Dive 5081. (Photo by Alvin Team, ©Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) Dive 5085 came up after achieving what was then a record depth for Alvin of 5782 meters. The sub crew decided to come up when they did because they had dived deep enough to put the sub within striking distance…
Read MoreWe did it!
Yesterday’s Alvin dive landed on the seafloor around 5670 meters and, after the crew inside completed their checks, picked up and drove north down the sloping seafloor of the Puerto Rico Trench until they eventually settled at 6453 meters-a little over four miles deep. The NAVSEA-mandated depth to achieve certification is below 6200 meters, but…
Read More“Alvin Diving:” What it takes to get the sub in the water
Years can elapse between the time that a scientist writes a grant proposal and the day Atlantis actually arrives over a chosen dive site. That period is almost entirely unscripted and in the hands of the team that makes up the science party on the ship, as well as many others on shore. Once Atlantis…
Read MoreEngineering observations
Riding in an observer seat for the last three consecutive Alvin dives were engineers of different kinds: an Alvin mechanical engineer, an Alvin engineering technician, and a WHOI software engineer who is on board for sea trials. Here are their dive stories. Alvin engineers Nick Ellis and Kaitlyn Beardshear before dive 5082. Hannah Piecuch ©Woods…
Read MoreSea trials shake-out
There is no pressure test facility in the world that can fit Alvin. So we have to dive. (Photo by Hannah Piecuch, ©Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) As Alvin goes deeper, things that were invisible on land and on the ship emerge under the pressure of the deep sea. Dives 5082 and 5083 and 5084 are…
Read MoreReverse Himalayas
On Tuesday, after four days of transiting south, the Atlantis arrived above the Puerto Rico Trench, which is 8,600 meters deep, and the place where deepest dives of this expedition will take place. Alvin dove in the trench on Wednesday, July 13, with a goal of reaching 3,500 meters. Bruce Strickrott was pilot, Rick Sanger…
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