Category: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Page 1 of 16

Aarav: Week One

On September 5, 2026

In R/V Atlantis, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

The Atlantis left Norfolk last Saturday morning, and we have now been at sea for roughly one week. So far, it has been an incredible experience, and I have already learned a tremendous amount!

Before leaving port, the Alvin team and I had the opportunity to tour the USS New Jersey, a Virginia class nuclear submarine. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take any photos, but it was one of the most impressive pieces of engineering I have ever seen.

While still in Norfolk, I was able to observe the mechanical team assembling two Alvin motors that had recently arrived from the shore-based engineering crew. They also showed me the oil compensation system and explained how it prevents electrical housings from collapsing under the immense pressure. Nick, the mechanical lead, gave me a tour of both Alvin and the Atlantis, and everyone on board was incredibly welcoming and eager to help me understand the vehicle and its systems.

As we departed port, we got to see a pod of dolphins following the ship. We also passed Naval Station Norfolk and saw several impressive Navy vessels, including the USS Nimitz and USS Harry S. Truman.

Since departing, I have spent most of my time assisting with Alvin launch and recovery operations. I’ve helped prepare the tool basket, clean the submarine, and load and unload equipment from the sub. Scott and Janna also taught me how to prepare, install, and remove the MISO cameras, so I have been helping with that every day as well.

A few days ago, I had the opportunity to ride in the small boat with Esteban during a launch. Being in the small boat really put into perspective just how far from shore we are. The experience felt surreal.

Molly has also been teaching me various sailor’s knots, and Catfish showed me how to handle the stern line during small boat deployments. It made me feel like a pirate.

Post recovery, I have started helping the science team assemble and set up push cores. It has been a good time to talk to various scientists and learn what they are doing and why. There is an artist onboard who has been making interpretative paintings of the science going on and I’ve been able talk to her about her work and how she is turning hardcore science into something palatable for a general audience.

Other than that, I’ve been hanging out in Top Lab with Nick, Bruce, and Kaitlyn since it’s quiet up there and has a nice view. It gives me the opportunity to ask them questions and learn more about everything that is going on.

The food is extremely tasty on board, and the crew have been watching old school Star Trek during meals, which has also been entertaining. The sunrises and sunsets are beautiful, and a few people have mentioned that the stars at night are really pretty, so I will go out tonight to take a look, and the results will be in next week’s blog, so come back for that.

Thanks for reading!

– Aarav

Intro: Aarav Shah

By Aarav Shah

On August 24, 2026

In R/V Atlantis, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Hello!

My name is Aarav Shah and I am the UNOLS intern aboard the R/V Atlantis for the Joye Cruise! I am scheduled to be sailing out of Norfolk this Wednesday (8/26) to study methane seepage in the Atlantic with HOV Alvin for about 3 weeks.

I’m a rising sophomore at the University of Washington studying Electrical Engineering and have an interest in marine sciences and technology. At UW, I am part of the Underwater Remotely Operated Vehicle Team that competes in the MATE ROV competition which also grew my interest in underwater vehicles and research.

This will be my first time aboard a research vessel but I’m really looking forward to the experience and meeting everyone on board!

– Aarav

Week Four

By Christina Rorres

On July 8, 2026

In R/V Neil Armstrong, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

After a productive start to the cruise, the weather finally caught up with us early last week, so we stopped mooring operations. We continued with CTD casts for a while longer, but eventually the seas become too rough for those as well. We steamed away from the area and were able to avoid the worst of the storm.

For the next few days, I kept busy with computer work and learning. I watched videos about various SeaBird sensors, started learning Python, and put together a poster advertising our 3D printing capabilities in case any of the scientists need parts. Emily also took some time to show me a few things around the ship. One day we exercised the HiPAP pole and gate valve to help prevent biological growth, and another day she walked me through the meteorological sensors on the mast (pictured below).

By Thursday evening, the weather had improved enough for us to resume CTD casts, and by Friday morning we were back to mooring operations. We still had two more NIOZ moorings to recover and redeploy, so I spent most of my time helping on the back deck. It’s been a great way to learn more about line handling and safety on deck. Once we wrapped up with the NIOZ moorings we moved onto the University of Miami moorings. It’s been interesting to see how each group builds and deploys their moorings since everyone has their own way of doing things. Just one more week at sea before we tie up in Reykjavik.

Week Three

By Christina Rorres

On June 29, 2026

In R/V Neil Armstrong, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

After a long transit we’ve finally started science operations. On our way north, we stopped a couple of times to deploy ARGO floats. Our typical schedule has consisted of CTD casts at night and mooring operations during the day. Following the first few CTD casts, we noticed that the conductivity values from one of the sensors were drifting quicker than normal, so we replaced it with a spare sensor.

The first few days were spent recovering and redeploying two OOI moorings. Each recovery took place in two stages. We started by recovering the upper 500 meters of the mooring, a process that took about an hour. Shortly after, we deployed the new mooring, which was a multi-hour operation. Once the new mooring was in place, we returned to the original recovery site to retrieve the bottom portion of the previous mooring. During these operations, I had the opportunity to assist with both the A-frame and the winch.

Over the past couple of days, we also recovered and redeployed moorings for NIOZ (Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research). Compared to the OOI moorings, these operations have been a bit quicker since the wire is considerably shorter.

Aside from science operations, I also spent some time transferring files to the new backup data drive that I have been setting up. Once the files were copied over, I set up the automated tasks that will be used to run the required scripts if needed.

Week Two

By Christina Rorres

On June 21, 2026

In R/V Neil Armstrong, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

On Monday morning we docked in St. John’s Newfoundland, where we picked up the rest of the science party and crew. Many of us had never been there before so we spent some time exploring the city and hiking along the coast. We got lucky with great weather!

To the right is a photo of the pilots boarding the ship before we entered the harbor. Below are two photos from the trail, one of the Armstrong docked next to a Canadian fishing vessel and one of the neighborhood along the trail.

Once again, this week has been slow for science so I have been working on more small projects. When we left port on Wednesday, I relabeled many of the servers and computers on the ship with their new IP addresses that they were given recently. This task has definitely helped me become more familiar with these machines. I’m continuing to practice with the 3D modeling software and have been busy printing some identification tags that the engineers have requested (pictured below). Aside from those two projects, I’ve been spending much of the last few days going through interactive Linux tutorials on my laptop.

Although we have been transiting for most of the week, we stopped a few times on Wednesday to deploy RAFOS floats, which track the motion of the water in the ocean. We will hopefully get to our first CTD station off the east coast of Greenland by Tuesday!

Week One

By Christina Rorres

On June 14, 2026

In R/V Neil Armstrong, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

We departed Woods Hole last Sunday and have been underway to St. John’s Newfoundland to load some more gear and pick up a few more people.

There hasn’t been much science going on so Emily has been giving me a small project most days. I spent the first couple days practicing 3D modeling and printing. There are two 3D printers on board, but when I first arrived one of the raspberry pi’s connected to the printer was broken. Emily tasked me with setting up a new pi, so now we can print from our laptops again and watch the process with the camera that is set up. Once I got that printer working again, we noticed the print quality from the other printer was pretty bad in comparison, so I’ve been troubleshooting that issue.

I also spent a day working on reformatting a server to install a new operating system. Everything about this was completely new to me so it took me a while to get things right. Later, I spent some time building the ethernet cable for this server. Eventually, we will set it up to be a backup data drive.

After a few days we stopped to do a test CTD and deploy the first mooring, both of which went smoothly. The mooring landed about 700m away from its target location, which seemed reasonable considering the 4000m of line and 5000m seafloor. I was able to help out running the A-Frame and winch as needed.

Introduction: Christina Rorres

By Christina Rorres

On June 7, 2026

In R/V Neil Armstrong, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Hello! My name is Christina and I am an intern on the upcoming Armstrong cruise from Woods Hole, MA to Reykjavik, Iceland. This cruise is primarily for the Overturning in the Subpolar North Atlantic Program (OSNAP), but there will be some work with Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI).

I am taking a short break from my current position as a research assistant at WHOI to shadow and work alongside the marine techs onboard here. Over the past three years, I have sailed on various UNOLS vessels as a science member, so I’m excited to sail with and learn from the SSSG’s (Shipboard Scientific Services Group) over the next six weeks.

Ken: Week 16 and 17

By Ken Csukas

On March 23, 2026

In Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Week 16:

The main batteries were the centerpiece of this week. These are the large lead-acid battery packs that power Alvin during a dive, and it was time to replace the individual cells. Each battery is constructed of 60 cells in two trays, top and bottom, with two batteries installed at a time. Generally one is dedicated to powering port side equipment and one to starboard. Each cell is roughly 2 volts, for a total of 120 volts DC for the high power devices, stepped down by the power bottles to various lower voltages for everything else. There is a third battery and a consistent rotation of the three, so that while two are in service the third is going through regular preventative maintenance.

To cover replacing each cell across all three batteries, five pallets totaling 200 new cells were ordered, 60 cells per battery with 20 spares to cover the multiple years they will be in service, ensuring the cells will always be of the same construction and age. With each cell being of similar weight to a car battery, there was a lot of manual labor involved.

The first stretch of the week, Monday through Wednesday, was spent on the swap. The old cells were pulled from the trays a small quantity at a time while a similar amount of new ones were pulled from the shipping pallets and cleaned before installation. The used cells were stored back in the shipping pallets for later return, and the new cells were inserted into the trays.

The new cells are a slightly different height than the old ones, which meant new spacer plates that sit beneath them and protect the cell bottoms needed to be fabricated to bring the terminals to the correct height. And in preparation for the future work of connecting all the cells together, the terminal connection hardware was cleaned with degreaser and run through the sonic cleaner, then sorted and set aside for later installation.

With the trays fully populated, Thursday shifted elsewhere. The spare cell storage boxes were modified to make it easier to store and remove spare cells. And work began on sealing up the pallets of old cells for shipment.

Friday was a mix of tasks. A pair of camera PBOF cables needed shortening to remove damaged sections, with the connectors replaced in the process. The rest of the day went toward finishing up the used cell pallets and getting them secured. Once sealed, the pallets were moved out to clear space in the shop for the following week, when a specialized metrology company was arriving to create a precision 3D scan of the sphere.

Week 17:

Monday started with installing the I&I bottle housings back into the forward section of the frame. And the sphere wiring harness was craned back to the sphere. Rick is leading the task of re-installing the equipment and harness into the sphere.

On Tuesday, some minor alterations were made to cables running to various junction boxes. And I joined Scott to begin reassembly of the power bottles. The power bottles consist of a high power side and a lower power side, joined by a middle ring that contains further connections.

Power bottle reassembly continued through Wednesday.

Thursday was spent on the re-installation of the aft bottle rack, which houses the power and data bottles. It needed a cleanup, and several holes were enlarged to better accept the threaded rod that bolts the rack assembly together.

The week wrapped up Friday with finishing the installation of the aft bottle rack and populating the power and data bottle housings into the frame.

Ken: Week 14 and 15

By Ken Csukas

On March 20, 2026

In Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Week 14:

This one is short. A significant blizzard moved through the region and shut down WHOI campuses for the first four days of the week. Roads were closed to unnecessary travel and many of us were without power for days. It was certainly an interesting time, though some of us did fit in some sledding and board games.

Fortunately, the crews working to clean up after the storm and restore services had things back in order by late Thursday, and work resumed Friday. I picked back up on the oxygen rack cleanup where it had been left off. And helped the mechs remount the skids to the bottom of the frame. These protect the extremely expensive titanium frame by taking the brunt of the damage caused by Alvin resting on rough surfaces like concrete, rocky seafloor, and the ship deck.

Week 15:

The oxygen rack cleanup wrapped up Monday, bringing that project to a clean close.

Tuesday brought continued work with the mechanical side of things. I helped the mech team reinstall the forward variable ballast spheres, the same titanium spheres that were cleaned and borescoped previously, now making their way back into the vehicle as reassembly builds momentum.

On Wednesday we were testing the Inductively Coupled Links (ICLs) after they had been loaned out for a non-Alvin cruise. ICLs use inductive coupling to create a very short range wireless communications link between temperature probes and Alvin, allowing collection of seawater temperature data without each probe being wired directly to the vehicle. This allows multiple temperature probes to be mounted on the science platform with only one required wired connection into Alvin, as the manipulator arm can move the reading device between whichever probe is needed. Testing included the usual visual inspections, probe calibration checks, and verifying the expected data over the serial link. One faulty ICL was found but repaired easily, as it was simply a failed solder joint on a wire-to-board connection.

The rest of Wednesday was spent back in the birdcage, continuing the AV wiring work, along with a few control system wires, and some improvements to component labeling.

Thursday I remained in the birdcage, finally completing the wiring work. Sadly I didn’t manage to get any pictures of the finished AV wiring. You’ll just have to believe me that it looked very clean, as the birdcage began disassembly soon after for re-installation of the wiring harness and equipment back into the sphere.

The week ended a day early for me, as my Friday was spent in bed sick.

Over the weekend I finished a school project that I had been working on over many weekends this semester. A mobile GPS base station that provides RTK correction data to an aerial drone, giving it more precise positioning than the drone’s onboard GPS receiver alone. The tough part was building it to operate as a standalone system in remote regions with no cell service or internet connection. Made easier by the control of configuration provided by device using open source software and mostly open source hardware.

Ken: Week 12 and 13

By Ken Csukas

On March 19, 2026

In Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Week 12:

The AV wiring cleanup that began at the end of week eleven stretched into the majority of this week as well. Working through the sphere’s video system is slower going than it might sound. With so many cables going different directions, cable routing can be complex. Progress is real, just not dramatic on any given day.

Monday was spent continuing that work.

Tuesday had an important task: verifying Ben’s repair work on the in-sphere panel responsible for detecting vehicle grounds. Grounds are a persistent reality when working with a system that spends its life in and around seawater. Everything is wet, and grounds can be genuinely difficult to track down while causing a variety of issues depending on the electrical system affected. Having a reliable detection panel is important, and verifying the repair with a second set of eyes is a required step.

Wednesday brought a major turning point. The team officially kicked off reassembly with a meeting, covering the plan and sequence for bringing everything back together.

A smaller task filled Thursday, cleaning up the wiring inside the main ballast vent valve. This is an electrically controlled valve that releases the air held in the main ballast tank when Alvin is ready to begin descent. Existing solder connections were replaced with a pin connector. Solder joints get the job done, but a connector makes it much easier to isolate and test individual components.

Friday held no surprises, simply continued work on the audio visual system wiring.

The weekend held a big adventure. Around ten members of the Alvin team headed up to New Hampshire for ice climbing and mountaineering. My first time ice climbing.

Week 13:

The AV wiring cleanup continued through Monday, Tuesday, and into part of Wednesday.

On Wednesday I also helped Scott begin reassembly of the data bottles, specifically attaching the endcaps back onto the chassis of each bottle and threading the associated wires back through the bottles. A finicky task, as the bottles are densely populated to utilize space as efficiently as possible.

Thursday was spent servicing the pressure relief valves on the compensation system. The compensation system generally does not see a pressure difference between the oil inside and the seawater outside, as the comp bladders are squeezed by the water until the pressure equalizes. If an issue causes the internal pressure to rise above the outside, the relief valves open. They are set to an unusually small threshold of 2 to 3 PSI, because anything greater will damage housings.

A new project came in on Friday, pulling the in sphere wiring work aside for the time being. Inside the sphere, the oxygen supply bottles are stored in a rack, and I began a disassembly and cleanup of that rack. The oxygen system is part of Alvin’s life support, and though the rack itself is not a complex component nor in direct contact with the gas supply or people, the cleaning was done with mild chemicals to ensure no contamination to the oxygen system in the future. Small repairs were made to bent components and damaged threads, and a few screws were shortened to make installing the bottles easier going forward.