Image

Alvin‘s Army

Alvin, the nation’s deepest-diving human-occupied research sub, was built in 1964 and has been constantly upgraded ever since. It is part of the NSF-sponsored National Deep Submergence Facility at WHOI, which operates deep-sea exploration vehicles for the U.S. oceanographic community. When scientists are awarded opportunities to use Alvin, they don’t just get the sub, they get the expertise of the Alvin Submersible Engineering and Operations Group, the team that maintains and operates it. Through rigorous training and more than a half-century of experience, this tight-knit group has amassed the knowledge base to develop the technology that enables scientists to push the boundaries of their research. (Photo by Jayne Doucette, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)