A Buoy’s Long Strange Trip

Alvin‘s Animals

July 2, 2014

From orange octopi and furry yeti crabs to the largest known anemone, pilots and scientists diving in the Alvin submersible continue to find amazing marine creatures.

Rebuilding Alvin: Chris German

June 18, 2014

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…

At 50, Alvin Gets an Extreme Makeover

June 11, 2014

The deep-sea research submersible Alvin returned to service in March 2014 after undergoing an historic overhaul that significantly enhanced its capabilities.

Bringing Alvin Back on Board

June 9, 2014

Crew members of the research vessel Atlantis play crucial roles in recovering the submersible after its day on the bottom of the ocean.

Happy 50th Birthday, Alvin

June 6, 2014

Five years before we landed a man on the moon, a stubby submersible was built to take people to the bottom of the ocean. Alvin was commissioned on June 5, 1964.

Trailblazer in the Ocean

June 3, 2014

On June 5, 1964, a stubby submersible with a not-so-bold name was commissioned on the dock of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, marking the beginning of a new era of deep-sea exploration

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.

Rebuilding Alvin: Durante & Skowronski

May 23, 2014

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.

Rebuilding 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.

Rebuilding Alvin: Humphris & Strickrott

May 16, 2014

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.

Rebuilding 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.

Rebuilding Alvin: Anthony Tarantino

May 9, 2014

Anthony Tarantino, assistant project manager for the upgrade, explains the electrical systems in the new Alvin.

Rebuilding Alvin: Rod Catanach

Engineer Rod Catanach describes the fabrication, testing, and installation of the syntactic foam that provides buoyancy for Alvin.

Ready, Set, Dive

May 1, 2014

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.

Uncovering the Ocean’s Biological Pump

April 25, 2014

Dan Ohnemus clearly remembers the highlight of his fourth-grade class in Bourne, Mass. He and his classmates made a satellite…

Drug Discovery in the Ocean

April 17, 2014

WHOI scientists are investigating a wide range of unexplored microbes that produce chemicals with potential therapeutic value.

Cystic Fibrosis

Illustration by Eric Taylor, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Rebuilding Alvin: Jonathan Howland

April 9, 2014

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.

Rebuilding Alvin: Phil Forte

April 2, 2014

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.

A River Runs Through It

March 26, 2014

The geochemical journey of carbon from the atmosphere to the river.

Of The River and Time

The Fraser River in western Canada is flowing with tiny time capsules. Inside them is a fascinating history of Earth’s…

Jet Stream Gets Fish in Hot Water

March 19, 2014

WHOI scientists traced a heat wave in the North Atlantic, and the disruption of fisheries that it caused, to an unusual pattern in air circulation months earlier.

Detours on the Oceanic Highway

March 13, 2014

WHOI graduate student Isabela Le Bras is exploring newly discovered complexities of the Deep Western Boundary Current, a major artery in the global ocean circulation system that transports cold water south from the North Atlantic.