Applied Ocean Physics & Engineering
Iconic Research Submersible Alvin Turns 50
We know more about the surface of other planets than we do about Earth’s ocean. And what is known about our ocean would not have been possible without the deep-sea…
Read MoreRebuilding Alvin: Don Peters
More than 100 people at WHOI played roles in redesigning and reconstructing the new Alvin. Don Peters, senior engineer, headed the team that reconfigured the sub to accommodate a larger sphere and added weight.
Read MoreRebuilding Alvin: Logan Driscoll
The new Alvin has a new, slightly larger personnel sphere. Still, getting all the necessary equipment to fit inside the sphere took a Herculean effort.
Read MoreRebuilding Alvin: Durante & Skowronski
The new Alvin has a new, slightly larger personnel sphere. Still, getting all the necessary equipment to fit inside the sphere took a Herculean effort.
Read MoreRebuilding Alvin: Bruce Strickrott
Now that the newly upgraded Alvin has resumed operations, a pilot and scientist describe how some of the new features of the submersible are changing the way they are using the vehicle.
Read MoreRobotic Deep-sea Vehicle Lost on Dive to 6-Mile Depth
On Saturday, May 10, 2014, at 2 p.m. local time (10 pm Friday EDT), the hybrid remotely operated vehicle Nereus was confirmed lost at 9,990 meters (6.2 miles) depth in the Kermadec Trench northeast of New Zealand. The unmanned vehicle was working as part of a mission to explore the ocean’s hadal region from 6,000 to nearly 11,000 meters when a portion of it likely imploded.
Read More
Rebuilding Alvin: Anthony Tarantino
Anthony Tarantino, assistant project manager for the upgrade, explains the electrical systems in the new Alvin.
Read MoreRebuilding Alvin: Rod Catanach
Engineer Rod Catanach describes the fabrication, testing, and installation of the syntactic foam that provides buoyancy for Alvin.
Read MoreReady, Set, Dive
Before scientists go to work in the morning at the bottom of the ocean in the submersible Alvin, a team of engineers, pilots, and ship’s crew performs a carefully orchestrated choreography.
Read MoreRebuilding Alvin: Jonathan Howland
The 25th installment in our series on the people at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution who helped design and build the new and improved version of the submersible Alvin.
Read MoreRebuilding Alvin: Phil Forte
A new installment in our series on the team of people at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution who helped design and build the new and improved version of the submersible Alvin.
Read MoreLi’l Alvin
Tom Ryder is a professional underwater diver and a radio-controlled model builder. That combination, naturally, led to a fully operational miniature version of the deep-sea sub Alvin.
Read MoreDeep-Diving Sub Alvin Cleared to Return to Service
After a three-year overhaul and major upgrade, the United States’ deepest-diving research submersible, Alvin, has been cleared to return to work exploring the ocean’s depths.
Read MoreWoods Hole Oceanographic Institution Scientist Receives Grant from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation
The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation has awarded Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) assistant scientist Anna Michel $200,000 to develop a sensor that will enable scientists to analyze how methane…
Read MoreWHOI Scientists Garner Awards in 2013
As the year 2013 ends, we profile scientists who recently received awards and recognition for their work.
Read MoreSOI Collaborating with WHOI on World’s Most Advanced Deep-diving Robotic Vehicle
Schmidt Ocean Institute (SOI) has begun working with the Deep Submergence Laboratory at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) to design and build the world’s most advanced robotic undersea research vehicle for use on SOI’s ship Falkor. The new vehicle will be capable of operating in the deepest known trenches on the planet, including the nearly 11,000-meter-deep Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench. The design will capitalize on lessons learned from past WHOI vehicle designs, as well as advanced technologies developed for DEEPSEA CHALLENGER, the submersible and science platform that explorer and director James Cameron piloted to Challenger Deep in 2012 and donated to WHOI in 2013.
Read MoreRebuilding Alvin: Elder and Fournier
From the beginning of 2011 to May 2013, Alvin, the U.S. science community’s only human-occupied submersible dedicated to deep-sea research, underwent a thorough overhaul and upgrade to greatly enhance its…
Read MoreA War of Knowledge to Save Sharks
Derya Akkaynak hails from a town called Urla in Turkey, and like most graduate students who come from foreign lands to study oceanography in Woods Hole, she keeps track of…
Read MoreSwimming with Sharks
Amy Kukulya’s clients often have curious requests, but this was among the oddest. As an engineer at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), she has operated autonomous underwater vehicles beneath Arctic…
Read MoreRebuilding Alvin: Al Suchy
From the beginning of 2011 to May 2013, Alvin, the U.S. science community’s only human-occupied submersible dedicated to deep-sea research, underwent a thorough overhaul and upgrade to greatly enhance its…
Read MoreRebuilding Alvin: Dutch Wegman
From the beginning of 2011 to May 2013, Alvin, the U.S. science community’s only human-occupied submersible dedicated to deep-sea research, underwent a thorough overhaul and upgrade to greatly enhance its…
Read MoreRebuilding Alvin: Patrick Hennessy
From the beginning of 2011 to May 2013, Alvin, the U.S. science community’s only human-occupied submersible dedicated to deep-sea research, underwent a thorough overhaul and upgrade to greatly enhance its…
Read MoreRebuilding Alvin: Paul Keith
From the beginning of 2011 to May 2013, Alvin, the U.S. science community’s only human-occupied submersible dedicated to deep-sea research, underwent a thorough overhaul and upgrade to greatly enhance its…
Read MoreRebuilding Alvin: Hugh Popenoe and Rob Lewis
From the beginning of 2011 to May 2013, Alvin, the U.S. science community’s only human-occupied submersible dedicated to deep-sea research, underwent a thorough overhaul and upgrade to greatly enhance its…
Read More