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…

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…

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…

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…

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,…

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…

The Alvin swimmers ride the sub into the water, unhook the main and tail lines to get it free of the ship, snorkel around the vehicle to complete final checks,…

HOV Alvin is at sea for engineering tests to dive 6,500 meters deep, able to reach 99% of the ocean floor. If you haven’t been following the process, we’ll catch you up here.

When Alvin submerged for its second open water dive of sea trials on Thursday, July 7, it was operated by Senior Pilot Bruce Strickrott and carried two crew members who…