After a two-year, $41 million upgrade, the venerable Alvin submersible is about to return to sea.
On 25 May, the research ship Atlantis will leave the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, with Alvin on board, bound for Astoria, Oregon. After a series of Navy certification cruises in September and a scientific verification cruise in November, Alvin will return to full service in December studying the deep ocean off the US Pacific Northwest. Read more in Nature.