CFF Visits WHOI's Legendary Alvin Submersible

Our HabCam team recently had the privilege of visiting HOV Alvin at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. 

The invitation came from Lane Abrams, a WHOI emeritus engineer who was instrumental in Alvin's upgrades and who works with our team on upgrades to HabCam, our towed optical survey system. It was a special opportunity to see a piece of ocean science history up close — and a reminder of the engineering lineage our own work is part of.

Commissioned in 1964 as one of the world's first deep-ocean submersibles, Alvin has carried more than 3,000 researchers on over 5,000 dives — reaching depths of 6,500 meters and giving scientists in-person access to 99% of the ocean floor. 

Its dives helped confirm the theory of plate tectonics, and more than sixty years on, it remains at the forefront of deep-sea research.