After 40 years, federal officials are replacing Alvin, the pioneering research submersible that gave humans an unprecedented view of the ocean depths, with a new, deeper-diving craft that will allow them to explore even more remote mysteries of the deep.
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Private and government scientists have used Alvin, a compact, rounded orange-colored craft that looks to some like a bathtub toy, to conduct more than 4,000 dives. The vessel 342200224 which carries two scientists and a pilot 342200224 can probe as far down as 4,000 meters (13,000 feet). Over the years, it helped to locate the wreck of the Titanic, recovered a hydrogen bomb, and discovered hydrothermal vents that spew hot water from the ocean floor and provide a habitat for tube worms and other previously unknown species.

Beloved by schoolchildren fascinated by the sea-floor images it captured, Alvin represented the scientific pioneering spirit of the 1960s, when Americans saw space and ocean exploration as key to the country's position as a world power. But the craft has aged and no longer suits scientists' expanding needs, engineers say, and other countries have developed submersibles that outperform Alvin: Japan has a vessel capable of reaching 6,500 meters (21,320 feet), while Russia and France have 6,000-meter ones. China is building its first deep-diving craft.

To stay in the game, the U.S. government has come up with plans for a $21.6 million replacement, though it still lacks a catchy name. The new craft 342200224 which will be based on Alvin's mother ship, the Atlantis 342200224 will also be able to reach 6,500 meters, allowing it to explore 99 percent of the sea floor.

"The contribution Alvin has made to science is unquestioned," said Robert Gagosian, president of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, which will operate and help fund the new submersible. "Alvin enabled whole new generations of scientists to gain access to a previously unseen world, and for engineers to push the limits of their creativity. The replacement vehicle is designed to continue and extend this legacy."

In addition to being able to dive deeper and faster, the new craft 342200224 scheduled to be launched in 2008 342200224 will have better visibility and lighting, including five windows with overlapping views, compared with Alvin's three. It will boast a ballast system allowing it to hover at any depth to conduct mid-water research; more space for passengers and their cargo; improved sensors and data collection systems; and higher-speed communication with its surface ship.

"It is a major step forward in ocean exploration and brings a new level of versatility and capability to scientists wishing to pursue research projects on a routine basis in areas they have long wanted to study but have been unable to reach," said Maurice Tivey, the oceanographic institute's acting chief scientist of deep submergence.

With the aid of the new vessel, scientists hope to study how hydrothermal vents, which belch out superheated water, operate on the ridge flanks near ocean trenches and on the deeper portions of the continental margins. Researchers also want to examine the largest daily migration of animals on Earth, in which trillions of organisms rise to the sea's surface at night to feed and then descend to its depths during the day to avoid being eaten by predators.