The Alvin

This is an image of the Alvin being recovered by divers. Click on image for full size version (107K GIF) Image from: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, photo by Rod Castiac

The Alvin, shown being recovered by divers in this picture, was the first deep-sea submersible. It was designed by scientists to explore the ocean floor, including the deep sea trenches, and can dive deeper than most submarines. Between 1964 and 1999, the Alvin completed 3,535 dives. The average depth for a dive was 1.28 miles (2,055 meters), whereas the average dive duration was 6.85 hours. The total number of people carried by the Alvin was 10,540. So, you can see that most dives carried 3 people aboard. The Alvin helps scientists to carry out research in the areas of geology, biology and chemistry. It also helps inspect underwater structures and search for sunken vessels.

Research vessels like the Alvin allow humans to find such creatures as methanogen bacteria and larger creatures such as tube worms which live near hydrothermal vents along the ocean floor. The next image shows a view of the Alvin underwater.