A panorama with my fisheye lens to try and capture the truly sphere-like feel on the inside.

While I did not get the chance to dive in Alvin on the Popping Rocks cruise, I did get a chance to hangout inside the personnel sphere with two of its pilots (Jefferson and Danik) and sketch for a few hours the other day.

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The Patriach, subject of our search on the open ocean, bobbing in the waves. (Photo by Lance Wills, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Dan Fornari, one of five people on Atlantis who speaks French, communicates with the crew on Patriach. (Photo by Lance Wills, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

The Atlantis crew in the Avon approaches Patriach. (Photo by Lance Wills, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Transfer complete, the Avon returns to Atlantis. (Photo by Lance Wills, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Atlantis and Patriach crew approach Atlantis. (Photo by Lance Wills, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

On the evening of Saturday, March 26, R/V Atlantis received a call from the U.S. Coast Guard informing us of a vessel nearby with a severely seasick sailor who needed to be evacuated. It was a French vessel that had originally contacted the French Coast Guard for assistance, which then alerted their U.S. counterparts. After assessing the situation, the U.S. Coast Guard decided that Atlantis presented the best option to safely evacuate, treat, and transport the sick sailor. Read More→

(Mark Kurz, chief scientist, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution; Eric Mittelstaedt, co-chief scientist, University of Idaho; Funder: NSF; ©Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Prepare to get up close and personal with some deep-sea rocks! Read More→

Josh Curtice, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Megan Jones, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Kate Kaminski, University of Idaho

Frieder Klein, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Mark Kurz, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (Photos by Dan Fornari, WHOI)

Elise Rumpf, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory

Darin Schwartz, Boise State University

Dorsey Wanless, Boise State University

There’s a first time for everything, and for a small group of people, that includes a first dive in Alvin. Read More→

Images by Maris Wicks; text with the assistance of Eric Mittelstaedt, University of Idaho

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Meet Igneous Popping Rock (aka Iggy Pop Rock), our Popping Rocks 2016 mascot! That's me in the background. (Photo by Adam Soule, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Arrival at the dock in Barbados (and my first time seeing R/V Atlantis in real life). (Photo by Maris Wicks)

Our introduction to living aboard R/V Atlantis included safety; this was taken during a ship evacuation drill, where we learned to put on our immersion (or survival) suits. (Photo by Eric Mittelstaedt, Idaho State University)

Lydia takes a peek inside Alvin's personnel sphere--don’t worry, she’s not touching the acrylic viewport! (Photo by Maris Wicks)

Planning for the first Alvin dive of the cruise in library of R/V Atlantis included a look at both multibeam bathymetry and side-scan sonar maps. (Photo by Maris Wicks)

Alvin tucks in for the night, ready for its first dive in the morning. (Photo by Maris Wicks)

Sentry works the night shift during this cruise, mapping the seafloor while most of us sleep. This information is used to help plan Alvin dives. Here’s Sentry on its first deployment of the cruise, an engineering dive to make sure all the instruments where working correctly. (Photo by Maris Wicks)

Alvin gets a last bit of sunlight before descending 3800 meters beneath the ocean surface. (Photo by Lance Wills, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Here’s a look back at our arrival on the ship and our first week of science.

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Alvin's manipulator arm reaches out to retrieve a sample from the seafloor. (Mark Kurz, chief scientist, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution; Eric Mittelstaedt, co-chief scientist, University of Idaho. Funder: NSF © Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.)

The first science dive of the cruise was also chief scientist Mark Kurz’s first dive in Alvin, and he was greeted on deck with frozen flip-flops, Pop Rocks candy, a sign, and a few buckets of ice water. (Photo by Maris Wicks)

Alvin's sample basket sits untouched until the sub is secured. (Photo by Maris Wicks)

Dan Fornari, Adam Soule, and Megan Jones (left to right) move in at the first opportunity to inspect the samples from the first dive. (Photo by Maris Wicks)

A sample of pillow basalt in one of the collection baskets. (Photo by Maris Wicks)

An individual fragment of glassy basalt (with a finger for scale). (Photo by Mark Kurz, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

A 22X-view of the popping sample full of tiny spherical vesicles containing gas under pressure. (Photo by Mark Kurz, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Did it really just pop? Left to right: Kate Kaminski, Lydia Auner, Elise Rumpf, Caroline Gini, Frieder Klein, Adam Soule, Darin Schwartz, and Hannah Bercovici. (Photo by Maris Wicks)

Everyone keeps their eyes on the pressure gauge on the turbo molecular vacuum as it fluctuates, signifying even more gas release. (Photo by Mark Kurz, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Of course we celebrated by eating Pop Rocks! (Photo by Maris Wicks)

Well, it didn’t take long. Just a few hours after arriving on deck from our first Alvin dive, one of the glassy fragments of basalt went “POP!” right on the sample table. Read More→