Image

Alvin Gets a Bath

Alvin pilots kick off their traditional “skins party,” during a Dive and Discover expedition to the Galápagos Rift in May 2005. After the last dive of every expedition the pilots clean the submersible’s white exterior “skins” of the dried on salt, grime, and the remains of the doomed sea life that hitched a ride to the surface. The removable fiberglass skins shield dozens of electronic and mechanical systems from hot, chemical-rich fluids at vents, and bumps with rocks. Join Alvin in December on its next Dive and Discover expedition, when it will carry researchers to never-before seen places in the Gulf of Mexico.(Photo by Amy Nevala, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)