Image

Ahoy, Alvin!

April 27, 2018

WHOI able-bodied seaman Raul Martinez and SSSG technician Allison Heater prepare the human-occupied vehicle Alvin for a dive in March 2014. They communicate with the sub’s pilot through a sound-powered phone plugged into the sealed personnel sphere. Then the divers enter the water to remove the two safety lines that help support the heavy sample basket in the front of Alvin when the sub is out of the water. The sub’s support ship, research vessel Atlantis, sits a safe distance away after launching Alvin in the water. This May, Alvin is scheduled to return to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge to search for “popping rocks.” (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)