Adieu, Alvin
For forty years, the previously-impenetrable, impossibly dark, unbearably frigid depths of the ocean have yielded their secrets to Woods Hole Institute's submersible Alvin, an amazing craft that I would very much like to take a ride in.
But all good things must come to an end, and that includes the astonishing career of the plucky little sub. Alvin is getting a replacement.
Alvin, that sent back pictures from the wreck of the Titanic, confirmed the spreading of the Atlantic Ocean floor at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (further supporting the tectonic plate/continental drift theory), located a missing hydrogen bomb off of Palomares, Spain (with a little help from latter-day pirate John Craven and Bayes' theorem of subjective probability), explored fascinating deep ocean currents, looked at the amazing sulfur-based life surrounding hydrothermal volcanic vents, and took a look, in 1986, at the watery grave of the 99 men who were lost when the USS Scorpion (SSN-589) sank in 1968 (the report of which visit is still classified).
27 more cubic feet on the new craft? That's a lot of space. Trust me. I'm not being sarcastic this time.
Man, to look at things four miles deep. That must be a treat. Also, you don't get telemarketer calls down there. That's pretty cool, too.
What a career the little craft has had. Forty years of operation in what is arguably the most hostile environment on earth is an absolutely stunning achievement. The temperature of the water at the ocean bottom is about 28 degrees Fahrenheit (due to the neat principle of freezing point depression, the salt in seawater lowers the freezing point of that fluid to a few degrees below 32), the density and salinity are greater than at the surface (and who wants even more corrosive seawater?), and the pressure--good lord, the pressure. You get approximately one atmosphere of pressure for every ten meters of water. Alvin's deepest operating depth was about 4500 meters. So that's about 450 atmospheres, or over 6600 pounds per square inch.
Ouch.
That's a tough day at work.
In case you were wondering, if there's one thing that we here at Punch and Jude know, it's submarines. Well, maybe not so much Punch. But definitely Jude.
For forty years, the previously-impenetrable, impossibly dark, unbearably frigid depths of the ocean have yielded their secrets to Woods Hole Institute's submersible Alvin, an amazing craft that I would very much like to take a ride in.
But all good things must come to an end, and that includes the astonishing career of the plucky little sub. Alvin is getting a replacement.
Alvin, that sent back pictures from the wreck of the Titanic, confirmed the spreading of the Atlantic Ocean floor at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (further supporting the tectonic plate/continental drift theory), located a missing hydrogen bomb off of Palomares, Spain (with a little help from latter-day pirate John Craven and Bayes' theorem of subjective probability), explored fascinating deep ocean currents, looked at the amazing sulfur-based life surrounding hydrothermal volcanic vents, and took a look, in 1986, at the watery grave of the 99 men who were lost when the USS Scorpion (SSN-589) sank in 1968 (the report of which visit is still classified).
27 more cubic feet on the new craft? That's a lot of space. Trust me. I'm not being sarcastic this time.
Man, to look at things four miles deep. That must be a treat. Also, you don't get telemarketer calls down there. That's pretty cool, too.
What a career the little craft has had. Forty years of operation in what is arguably the most hostile environment on earth is an absolutely stunning achievement. The temperature of the water at the ocean bottom is about 28 degrees Fahrenheit (due to the neat principle of freezing point depression, the salt in seawater lowers the freezing point of that fluid to a few degrees below 32), the density and salinity are greater than at the surface (and who wants even more corrosive seawater?), and the pressure--good lord, the pressure. You get approximately one atmosphere of pressure for every ten meters of water. Alvin's deepest operating depth was about 4500 meters. So that's about 450 atmospheres, or over 6600 pounds per square inch.
Ouch.
That's a tough day at work.
In case you were wondering, if there's one thing that we here at Punch and Jude know, it's submarines. Well, maybe not so much Punch. But definitely Jude.
posted by Jude at 9:19 PM
