Oceanus Magazine - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

At 50, Alvin Gets an Extreme Makeover

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

Ocean Tech

Bringing Alvin Back on Board

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

Ocean & Human Lives

Happy 50th Birthday, Alvin

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.

Ocean & Human Lives

Trailblazer in the Ocean

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

Ocean Tech

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.

Ocean Tech

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.

Ocean Tech

Rebuilding 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.

Ocean Tech

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.

Ocean Tech

Rebuilding Alvin: Humphris & 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.

Ocean Tech

Rebuilding Alvin: Anthony Tarantino

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

Ocean Tech

Rebuilding Alvin: Rod Catanach

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

Ocean Tech

Ready, 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.

How the Ocean Works

Uncovering the Ocean’s Biological Pump

Dan Ohnemus clearly remembers the highlight of his fourth-grade class in Bourne, Mass. He and his classmates made a satellite call to scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) who…

How the Ocean Works

Drug Discovery in the Ocean

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

Ocean Life

Cystic Fibrosis

Illustration by Eric Taylor, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Ocean Tech

Rebuilding 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.

Ocean Tech

Rebuilding 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.

How the Ocean Works

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 landscape and climate. For the past four years, I have…

How the Ocean Works

A River Runs Through It

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

Climate & Weather

Jet Stream Gets Fish in Hot Water

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.

Climate & Weather

Detours on the Oceanic Highway

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.

Ocean Tech

A Buoy’s Long Strange Trip

Since 2004, WHOI scientists have deployed ice-tether profilers (ITPs) in polar sea ice to monitor changing conditions in the Arctic. ITP 47 found its way to the coast of Ireland.

Ocean Tech

Li’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.

Ocean Life