conditions, polluted water, , , mixed- gas diving, saturated diving, hyperbaric chambers, hazardous aquatic life, emergency medical care, and accident management. But wait, there's more: the appendices also cover field neurological assessment, various dive tables including saturation and Nitrox, a complete glossary, a very good list of references, and a useful index. If you want to complete your library, then also get: • U.S. Navy Diving Manual, available as a free but large 46MB pdf file on-line (www.supsalv.org/ divingpubs.html#Download) • Techniques; A Practical Guide for the Research Diver, by John Heine (reviewed in , 14(1), by Alice Alldredge) • Scientific Diving: A General , by Nick Flemming and Michael Max • The Encyclopedia of , 2 °a edi- Comments on Technology Transfer in Diving: tion, Professional Association of diving Instructors, 1996, softcover and CD-ROM [some Based on a Review of the NOAA Diving with the NOAA Diving Manual, but Manual, 4 'h Edition a good chapter on the Aquatic Realm] Review by Part Two--Tech Transfer Melbourne G. Briscoe What this review is really about is a short essay on Office of Naval Research, Arlington, Virginia USA where the information comes from that goes into books Ronald B. Carmichael like the NOAA Diving Manual, and where it goes. Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C USA There are five major branches in the world of div- ing: commercial, public safety, military, scientific and Part One- Review recreational. In the United States the Occupational This is nominally a review of a 2001 publication, Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) either regu- the NOAA Diving Manual, Diving for Science and lates these activities or gives waivers if an alternative Technology, 4" edition, NTIS Order Number PB99- regulatory process exists. 144321INQ, and available from NTIS, see Recreational Diving (typified by holders of certifi- www.ntis.gov/product/noaadive.htm, or Best cations from NAUI, PADI, SDI, SSI, YMCA, etc.) oper- Publishing, see www.bestpub.com. It is available in ates outside OSHA exactly because it is recreational. hardcover ($89), softcover ($79), and searchable CD- Those professionals who are instructors in the recre- ROM ($89) editions, or as a package of hardcover plus ational domain (and might, therefore, be considered CD-ROM ($160) or softcover plus CD-ROM ($139). Be commercial divers) have a waiver from OSHA because advised the CD-ROM does not support Windows 2000 their focus is on the student rather than some task. or Mac, according to the NTIS website. Also, the locations chosen for training in recreational The first edition of the NOAA Diving Manual was diving are based in part on their safety and comfort published in 1977, the second in 1979, the third in 1991, rather than for some commercial application. Scuba and now this most recent edition. The notable new mate- diving instructors do not utilize construction tools, rial in this latest edition concerns the use of "- explosives, or use welding or burning tools. enriched air," commonly called Nitrox, now a popular (firemen hunting for drown- item in recreational diving as well as science diving. ing victims, or police searching for evidence, for exam- There have been a number of reviews published of ple) is carried out under government (federal, state, the NOAA Diving Manual, 4 th Edition, and they (and local) authorities separate from the OSHA require- we) all agree: it is a remarkable, authoritative, useful, ments placed on industrial . Public and easy-to-use encyclopedic reference for divers of all Safety divers may be employees of (say) a local gov- kinds, although it is aimed at scientific divers. It is a ernment or are sometimes volunteers. much-updated version of previous additions, and the also has its own regulatory system, list of contributors and editors is a veritable "Who's as embodied in the Navy Diving Manual (there is a Who". The contents include: history, physics, physiolo- joint-service republication of the same material, to gy, air diving and , equipment, surface- cover Army divers). The two main branches are salvage supplied diving, training, , scientific div- and ship husbandry, rather like commercial diving, and ing, working dives, support systems, special diving Special Operations, notably the Navy SEALS.

Oceanography • Vol. 15 • No. 2/2002 102 Science Diving also has a waiver from OSHA diving sections of the traditional agencies, like the requirements and operates under the American "TechRec" part of PADI (www.padi.com/ Academy of Underwater Sciences (AAUS) guidelines, coures/tecrec/) and the "Tec" part of NAUI see www.aaus.org. The AAUS Manual, Standards for (www.nauitec.com/). Scient!fic Diving Certification and Operations for Scient!fic Diving Programs, describes the training and certification What is interesting is how several technologies and requirements. In short, if you are going to dive as part diving methodologies have started in one of these of being on the staff or as a student at a U.S. universit?~, diving sectors and migrated to others. then you do it under the AAUS. The table below describes (from the AAUS website) the main differences Oxygen-Enriched Air (Nitrox) between a recreational "research diver" and an AAUS In the 1979 (second edition) NOAA Diving Manual, Scientific Diver. Although most science divers carry the entire chapter on mixed-gas diving is 13 pages long, recreational certifications, that is just the entry-level cer- with just one page devoted to Nitrox. In the 2001 fourth tification. Full Science includes addi- edition, the mixed gas chapter is only 15 pages long, tional training, approximately to the level of a recre- but there is an entirely new and separate Nitrox chap- ational plus aspects of the recreational ter that is 28 pages long! rating. As a reminder, the main limiting factor in much sci- ence and recreational diving is the uptake of nitrogen under during a dive. Nitrox replaces some of Research Diver Scientific Diver the nitrogen in the gas with oxygen, typical- (Recreational) (AAUS) ly providing a 32% or 36% oxygen mixture instead of air at 21% oxygen. The consequent reduction in nitro- Practical Trainin@ Only OSHA Defined gen loading can dramatically increase bottom times. Training Varies With Agency AAUS Training Standards For example at 50-foot depths, allowable bottom times Variable # Of Training Dives 100 Hours Training No Medical AAUS Medical Required (without incurring the need for decompression) can Lifetime Certification Must Maintain "Active" Status about triple if 36°/0 Nitrox is used instead of air. The bad Independent Instruction Scientific Diving Program Oversite news is that the risk of increases dra- Emergency Training Required matically too, so a dive with 36°,, oxygen is limited in (CPR/FA, Oxygen ) practice to about 100-foot maximum depths. A dive on 36% oxygen to the usual recreational dive depth maxi- mum (on air) of 130 feet could cause oxygen-toxicity- An example of recreational "research divers" induced convulsions, with as a possible con- might be the group that is exploring the karst system of sequence. As a result of the increased complication and northern Florida using equipment. risk of using oxygen-enriched air mixtures, Nitrox is Example science divers would be university-based considered tect'mical diving by the recreational diving marine biologists studying coral spawning. agencies and requires special training and certification for its use. • NOAA, as a government agency, also maintains Nitrox actually began in World War II as a gas used a waiver from OSHA and does its own training in military rebreathers. Although it had been used and certifications. Under certain circumstances, experimentally in commercial diving in the late 1950s there is a reciprocal certification arrangement and early 1960s, it was NOAA's desire in 1977 to between NOAA and AAUS so that science divers increase bottom times that led to their approval of 32% and science work can be "crossed over." NOAA oxygen mixtures in 1978 and incorporation of 32% diving is science diving; NOAA hires commercial Nitrox tables in the 1979 second edition of the NOAA divers for commercial tasks. Diving Manual. In 1985, , who had • Technical Diving is a (new within the last 10-15 recently retired as the Training Director of the NOAA years) branch of recreational diving, constituting Diving Program, introduced a recreational certification the cutting edge of equipment, depths, method- program for Nitrox through a new agency, now called ologies, and attitudes within the domain of recre- the International Association of Nitrox and Technical ational diving. It includes diving beyond the Divers (IANTD). The use has now spread through the "no decompression limits," diving in caves, other recreational training agencies, and is a standard rebreathers and mixed gases (including Nitrox). course taken by many divers bevond the initial certifi- The term "technical diving" was coined by a div- cation levels. As taught and used, the safetv record is ing magazine to encompass those activities. remarkable, even though about a quarter-million There are now formal certification agencies, like Nitrox certifications have been issued. For example, in the International Association of Nitrox and 1999, of about 3 million active divers in the U.S., there Technical Divers (IANTD: see www.iantd.com), were 78 reported recreational scuba fatalities. Just 3 of Technical Diving International (TDI: www. these involved Nitrox, and just one fatality, at most, tdisdi.com/tdi/tdihome.html), and technical may have been related to the increased oxygen level of

Oceanography • Vol. 15 • No. 2/2002 103 the gas (statistics from the at tunities to use military systems. However, commercial- Duke University, see www.DiversAlertNetwork.org). ly available systems have been brought to market Nitrox is now widely available, not expensive, and recently. The Dr/iger Dolphin, for example, is a de-mil- growing in use. All this in about 20 years, and directly itarized version of Dr/iger's military LAR-V system. from science diving (NOAA) to the recreational scuba Prices have significantly dropped (as low as $1700) community,. making rebreathers more accessible. Rebreathers are especially useful to scientific divers concerned with Alternate Air Sources marine life observations and photography. A diver faced suddenly with a loss of receives significant coverage in this 4"' edi- supply may require an "alternate" source of gas. The 4 ~" tion. Trimix is a breathing gas consisting of nitrogen, NOAA Diving Manual lists several variations of emer- oxygen and helium used primarily between the depths gency procedures reflecting mission-specific require- of 160 feet and 300 feet. The procedures described have ments. Generally two options exist: other-diver assist- historical roots in recreational and techni- ed and self-rescue systems. cal diving techniques. Trimix expands the operational The self-rescue systems are preferred by commer- depths that open-circuit scuba or rebreathers can be cial divers ("bail-out bottle" or its smaller cousin the used. Recreational divers have popularized the use of "") or anvone operating solo at significant Trimix in several dive applications such as studying the distance from an alternative breathing source; a com- Wakulla Spring system in Florida and volunteer divers plete redundant breathing supply is carried by the (like the Cambrian Foundation) assisting NOAA arche- diver. Also, self-rescue systems are built into many ology efforts on deep ship wrecks like the Monitor (see bail-out systems. Generally the operating oceanexplorer.noaa.gov / explorations / monitor01/ condition drives which type is appropriate. monitor01.html and www.cambrianfoundation.org). The recreational dive community has popularized Although the military can afford helium-oxygen the "Octopus" system. An additional breathing regula- mixtures (getting rid of the nitrogen mitigates both tor ("second stage") is added to simplify sharing a sin- and the bends), recreational and sci- gle source of gas. First used by cave divers in the early ence divers usually work to tighter budgets. Trimix 1970s, diving instructors in the late 1970s, and then allows an optimum blend of the three gases so there is adopted bv the recreational training agencies in the sufficient oxygen, not too much nitrogen, and an early 1980s, the Octopus or alternate 2 nd stage has affordable amount of helium. become standard for most open-circuit dive opera- Both Rebreathers and Trimix have yet to gain wide tions. The system requires two basic assumptions. First spread acceptance, however if Nitrox serves as an his- must be able to get to another team member, torical example, the fact that NOAA choose to publish and then the team member must have sufficient this new information will enhance the credibility of reserve gas to safely ascend both divers. using these new tools in future recreational and The 4 "~ NOAA Divin<~ Manual has expanded infor- research efforts. mation and options on alternative air systems with examples of which system is appropriate for the type Control Devices of diving operations being undertaken. The inflatable vest that allows the diver to achieve at any depth is a relatively new Rebreather and Trimix device. Derived from military diving in World War II, As mentioned earlier, the 1979 NOAA Diviny, in a 1967 diving textbook a Mae West type buoyancy Manual (2 "d edition) provided the first wide-spread vest is described as "emergency flotation gear" for application of Enriched Air Nitrox dive operations "post-dive emergency use." In the 1979 (2 nd edition) available to the general public. By the mid 1990s use of NOAA Diving Manual a larger selection of around-the- EAN was popular by the recreational diving public. neck flotation devices is shown, but they are still con- The 4 'h edition expands two area of diving which are sidered primarily emergency devices. They even car- growing more popular: "Trimix" and Rebreather div- ried carbon dioxide canisters to give emergency ing. These advances have quite different backgrounds. inflation capability. The diver's air tanks were simply Rebreathers (see www.nwdesigns.com/ held in a backpack and harness arrangement. rebreathers) work on the principle of removing carbon Meanwhile, during the late 1960s and early 1970s, dioxide from an exhaled breath and recycling unused European recreational divers were experimenting with oxygen in the mix. They are very efficient systems a specialized buoyancy vest made by , that car- when dealing with a limited gas supply. Reduced or lit- ried its own small canister of compressed air that was tle bubbling make the rebreather systems inherently designed to be bled into the vest as needed to maintain quiet. World militaries have used stealthy and quiet neutral buoyancy,. ScubaPro came out in 1978 with a rebreathers in some form for over 80 years. Today's wrap-around jacket that carried an inflation bladder revolution in electronics combined with improved connected to the same air tanks the diver used, and rebreather tecllnology offer some interesting future integrated the buoyancy vest, the tank backpack, and applications. Scientific divers have had limited oppor- the harness components into one "stabilizing jacket" or

104 Oceo.,7ojrophy • Vol. 15 • No. 2/2002 "buoyancy control device," or BCD or just BC. This Hand-held navigation have been a military revolutionized for everyone, and is now staple, for example for navigation and mine-hunting. mandatory equipment for recreational and essentially With simplified electronics commercial divers use them all other kinds of non-surface-supplied diving. to find bottom equipment, and recreational divers use In Europe some still use an Adjustable Buoyancy them to find the boat. With their navigational capabili- Life jacket, or ABLJ. It is ironic that the latest NOAA ty, scientific and research divers can much more rapid- Diving Manual (4 'h edition) says a BCD is "not a lifesav- ly map out an archeological site, or measure a coral . ing device," which of course is a complete about-face Some of the really fancy military sonars use an acoustic from their historical derivation. lens and megahertz frequencies to focus images into a Nevertheless, we now find an essential piece of mask-mounted display. These are now moving into the coming from the recreational com- commercial sector to scan for barnacles on the hulls of munity and moving full- to scientific, military, ships. public service, and commercial diving. Summary Miscellaneous Readers of Oceanography magazine love the ocean; Underwater acoustic communication systems have divers also want to be in it. Scientific divers have found been essential in the commercial and public safety div- a way to be in it and make a career of it, and recre- ing worlds, and are beginning to move into recreation- ational divers get to do it even when it is not part of al diving with full-face masks. Military developments their job. All the diving sectors--including commercial, in point-to-point underwater communications have military, and public safety, as well as scientific and moved to digital signal processing, which may slowly recreational--mutually benefit from the development make their way into diving as costs decrease. and testing of technologies and methodologies in all the Decompression computers have grown from an sectors. The NOAA Diving Manual, 4 'h edition, summa- expensive novelty in recreational diving to a standard rizes the state of the art for science diving. We expect in item, and now have moved into the other diving sec- the future to see additional chapters added as some of tors. Since recreational diving rarely goes to a fixed the innovations now being developed in cave and other depth and then returns--unlike much of the work in technical diving aspects of the recreational sector begin the other sectors---computerized dive tables have been to move into the main stream. Although subtitled as a boon. However, the size of the recreational diving Diving for Science and Technology, the 4" edition is a use- market has motivated considerable improvement and ful reference for recreational, public safety, military, and cost reduction in the devices, which now have moved commercial diving too. to the other sectors as safety devices.

WOCE AND BEYOND Achievements of the World Ocean Circulation Experiment 18-22 November 2002 San Antonio, Texas

An historic meeting to assess the accomplishments of WOCE and to usher in the new era of quantitative oceanography. Featured will be keynote plenary sessions, posters, and reviews by ocean basin built around these comprehensive themes: • New global perspectives--observational capabilities • The ocean's role in property transport and exchange with the atmosphere • WOCE insights--how the ocean works; the remaining problems • The ocean's role in climate; the next objectives • Beyond WOCE--where do we go from here? Complete program, registration and lodging information is at our website http ://www. WOCE2002. tamu. edu or contact the U.S. WOCE Office, 3146 TAMU, College Station TX 77843, USA; email: woce2002 @tamu.edu

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