Adventures with Jason | An NDSF alum walks in space

Fall 2023

Volcanoes, vents, and creatures of the deep: Adventures with the ROV Jason Team

Photo courtesy of Joe Resing, University of Washington/NOAA, NSF/AIVL/ROV Jason 2009 © Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

The Jason Team knows regions of the ocean floor like other people might know paths in their favorite mountain ranges. They’ve driven the remotely operated vehicle over live volcanoes, navigated to newly discovered hydrothermal vent fields, and encountered animals of all sizes. Read about some of the team’s most memorable dives.

Around the facility

How to catch a plume

Sampling hydrothermal iron with adaptive AUV Sentry dives

The team is everything

Meet ROV Jason expedition leader Chris Judge

**Eleven new HOV Alvin divers**

Summer engineering dives give funding agency representatives an immersion in Alvin operations

News

New brains and a tune-up for Sentry

Sentry is in Woods Hole for two months of maintenance before heading out to San Diego, where it will be loaded on the R/V Atlantis for the next round of operations. While at WHOI, the Sentry Team will be testing new hardware for controlling the vehicle during missions, integrating sensors and equipment, and replacing the support container used for operations.

Major overhaul for Jason

Jason is also in Woods Hole for an extended overhaul that will last through spring 2024. The Jason Team has disassembled the vehicle, down to its aluminum frame, and will service most parts. The frame has been tested for cracks with a dye-penetrant. No major issues requiring repairs were found. Jason will get a software update. New in-house designed thrusters and motor controllers will replace the existing propulsion system, which has reached end of life and become obsolete. The team will also be reconfiguring the attachment of syntactic foam on the frame. Jason is scheduled to descend to 6,500 meters in fall of 2024, for the first time in years, and the team is addressing a foam constraint concern before going deep. They will be attaching the foam in a manner that provides more room for it to flex at greater depths—building on the work the Alvin Team did to secure HOV Alvin's foam at similar depths.

Peter Girgius receives 2023 Captain Don Walsh Award for Ocean Exploration by the Marine Technology Society and the Society for Underwater Technology

Girguis is a frequent user of NDSF vehicles and the former DeSSC Chair. This award recognizes him for a lifelong dedication to advancing understanding of deep-sea ecosystems and marine organisms' adaptation to their environments. Girguis is a Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University and Adjunct Oceanographer at WHOI. Read more.

**NDSF staff and Atlantis crew received the following WHOI employee appreciation awards:**

Linda Morse-Porteous: Catie Graver, Atlantis shipboard science technician and member of NDSF data team
Safety Group: Atlantis Deck Crew
Safety Individual: Paul Gallagher, WHOI director of ship operations
Safety Individual runner-up: Anthony Tarantino, Alvin pilot and project manager

Atlantis receives Coast Guard Commendation

Captain Derek Bergeron and the Atlantis crew received a commendation from the United States Coast Guard for their role in rescuing 13 people from the Fishing Vessel Tremont off the coast of Virginia. Read more.

Alvin and Jason featured in WHOI 2024 calendar

A sunset Alvin recovery in the Galápagos photographed by Alvin Group Lead Bruce Strickrott as well as photography captured with Jason during an expedition with WHOI Scientist Julie Huber to Axial Seamount are both featured in the WHOI 2024 calendar. The latter, featured above, shows a community of filamentous bacteria and microeukaryotic colonial mats sustained by hydrothermal vent activity at Axial. Get one at the WHOI Shop!

Opportunities

Do you want to do science with our vehicles?

Apply to participate in a workshop for new vehicle users, sponsored by the UNOLS Deep Submergence Science Committee (DeSSC). Students, early career scientists and engineers, or scientists with little or no previous experience in deep-sea research are invited to apply. The workshop will be held February 17-18, 2024, at Loyola University, New Orleans (before the Ocean Sciences meeting). Applications for travel and lodging support are being accepted through Friday, December 8, 2023. Apply here.

Work for the Alvin Team

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is seeking a mechanical engineer and electrical engineer to join the Alvin Team. Both positions spend time at sea as part of vehicle operations. Exceptional candidates will have the opportunity to enter submersible pilot training.

Intern with our vehicle groups

The UNOLS-Marine Technical Internship Program (MATE) is accepting applications for the 2024 program. Interns have the opportunity to work onboard research vessels at-sea and in the shipyard, and be exposed to a wide range of marine technologies, equipment and marine technical professionals. Learn more.

Sea Stories

Sometimes the path to space leads through the deep sea. NASA Astronaut and WHOI adjunct engineer Loral O’Hara is at the International Space Station and made her first spacewalk on November 1. In this NASA video, she talks about formative years working on HOV Alvin and ROV Jason. Watch here.