PROCEEDINGS OF ADVANCED SCIENTIFIC DIVING WORKSHOP sur-D-O2 :80 Air 40’/:45 50/50 N2O2 60’/:45 Air 90’/:15 Air 150’/:15 HeO2 300’/:15 FEBRUARY 23-24, 2006 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION WASHINGTON, DC Lang, M.A. and N.E. Smith (eds.) 2006. Proceedings of the Advanced Scientific Diving Workshop. February 23-24, 2006. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. 277 p. Copyright © 2006 by Smithsonian Institution PO Box 37012 – MRC 415 Washington, DC 20013-7012 All Rights Reserved No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by photostat, microfilm, pdf, or any other means without written permission from the publisher. The publication of this document was sponsored by the Office of the Under Secretary for Science, Smithsonian Institution, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the American Academy of Underwater Sciences. The U.S. Government is authorized to produce and distribute reprints for governmental purposes notwithstanding the copyright annotation that appears above. Opinions presented at the Workshop and in the Proceedings are those of the contributors, and do not necessarily reflect those of the Smithsonian Institution Scientific Diving Program, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or the American Academy of Underwater Sciences. Cover graph: 300 fsw multi-depth, multi-gas dive profile described by M.L. Gernhardt (p. 36). 2 Contents Acknowledgements iii Welcoming remarks iv 1. Introductory Session PRESENTATION OF THE ISSUES. Michael A. Lang ..………………………………………………...................1 NOAA-NURP’s DEEP SCIENTIFIC DIVING NEEDS. N. Eugene Smith .……………………………………………………………3 HISTORIC PERSPECTIVE: SCIENTIFIC DEEP DIVING AND THE MANAGEMENT OF THE RISK. Glen H. Egstrom .…………………………………………………………….7 2. Decompression/Physiology Session DECOMPRESSION SICKNESS AND OXYGEN TOXICITY IN U.S. NAVY SURFACE-SUPPLIED HE-O2 DIVING. Wayne A.Gerth ..……………………………………………………………17 BIOMEDICAL AND OPERATIONAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR SURFACE-SUPPLIED MIXED-GAS DIVING TO 300 FSW. Michael L. Gernhardt ..……………………………………………………27 OPTIMAL DECOMPRESSION FROM 90 MSW. Alf O. Brubakk and Christian Gutvik .…………………………………….39 EVALUATION OF DIVE COMPUTER OPTIONS FOR POTENTIAL USE IN 300 FSW HELIOX/TRIMIX SURFACE-SUPPLIED SCIENTIFIC DIVING. Karl E. Huggins ……………………………………………………………47 SURVEY OF THERMAL PROTECTION STRATEGIES. Robert T. Stinton ..………………………………………………………….65 Decompression/Physiology Discussion Session ……………………………………...76 3. Comparative Operational Experience Session MEDICAL FITNESS AT 300 FSW. David G. Southerland ……………………………………………………...81 U.S. NAVY DIVING PROGRAM: DIVING TO 300 FT DEPTHS USING SURFACE-SUPPLIED AND SATURATION FLY-AWAY DIVING SYSTEMS. James R. Wilkins …………………………………………………………..89 COMMERCIAL DIVING: SURFACE-MIXED GAS, SUR-D-O2, BELL BOUNCE, SATURATION. Gary Beyerstein …………………………………………………………….95 COMMERCIAL DIVING: 90 MSW OPERATIONAL ASPECTS. Jean-Pierre Imbert ………………………………………………………..103 A COMPARISON OF SURFACE-SUPPLIED DIVING SYSTEMS. FOR SCIENTIFIC DIVERS. Michael F. Ward …………………………………………………………..119 3 SCIENTIFIC DIVING OPERATIONS WITH UNTETHERED, OPEN-CIRCUIT MIXED GAS SCUBA. Douglas E. Kesling and Henry J. Styron …………………………………123 APPLICATION OF DEEP DIVING TECHNOLOGY TO SCIENTIFIC EXPLORATION. Quenton Dokken …………………………………………………………..131 MIXED-GAS CLOSED-CIRCUIT REBREATHERS: AN OVERVIEW OF USE IN SPORT DIVING AND APPLICATION TO DEEP SCIENTIFIC DIVING. Karl Shreeves and Drew Richardson ……………………………………..135 UNDERWATER HABITATS AT 300 FSW: A THING OF THE PAST, OR STILL VIABLE TODAY? Craig B. Cooper …………………………………………………………..153 AAUS DEEP DIVING STANDARDS. William Dent ………………………………………………………………157 NOAA’S SURFACE-SUPPLIED DIVING PROGRAM: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. David A. Dinsmore ………………………………………………………..179 THE TRANSITION FROM SCUBA TO WAYSTATION SURFACE-SUPPLIED DIVING. Michael A. Lang …………………………………………………………..183 USAP SURFACE-SUPPLIED DIVING. Rob Robbins ……………………………………………………………….187 DEEP SCIENTIFIC DIVING IN EUROPE: IDENTIFYING THE NEED. Martin D.J. Sayer ………………………………………………………….193 Comparative Operational Experience Discussion Session …………………………203 4. General Discussion Session A. DISCUSSION OF PAPERS ……………………………………………………….211 B. SCIENCE USER GROUPS – THE NEED FOR A 300 FSW CAPABILITY …….214 Marc Slattery ………………………………………………………………215 Mitchell Tartt ……………………………………………………………..217 Quenton Dokken ………………………………………………………….222 Rosemarie Petrecca ……………………………………………………….223 Adam G. Marsh ……………………………………………………………224 Anson H. Hines ……………………………………………………………226 Phillip Lobel ………………………………………………………………230 COMMENTARY: Lee H. Somers ………………………………………..233 COMMENTARY: Gary Beyerstein ……………………………………...242 C. GENERAL DISCUSSION SESSION ……………………………………………..246 5. Conclusion Session A. DISCUSSION ………………………………………………………………………252 B. FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ……………………..……………….276 6. Workshop Participants ……………………………………………………………….277 4 Acknowledgements I wish to acknowledge and extend sincere appreciation to the Advanced Scientific Diving Workshop co-sponsors: Dr. David Evans (Smithsonian Institution), Ms. Barbara Moore and Ms. Karen Kohanowich (NOAA-National Undersea Research Program), Dr. Dan Basta, Dr. Steve Gittings, and Mr. Mitchell Tartt (NOAA-National Marine Sanctuaries Program), and Mr. William Dent, Mr. Steven Sellers, and Mr. Jeffrey Godfrey (American Academy of Underwater Sciences). This scientific diving workshop would not have been possible wihtout their combined support. Many thanks to all the workshop speakers who helped immensely by submitting their manuscripts on time. The short turn-around time for the production of proceedings for a workshop of this size is unprecedented and could not have happened without the full cooperation of the authors. We take satisfaction in having assembled this espert cast of professionals who shared their expertise on this topic with the workshop. The international, interdisciplinary nature of this project is evidenced by the participation of colleagues from the recreational, technical, commercial, military, and scientific diving communities and the papers they presented. Participants from Scotland, Norway, France, and Switzerland has the opportunity to interact with colleagues from across the United States. Smithsonian Institution staff who were very helpful during various phases of this workshop’s organization and conduct deserve special recognition: Laurie Penland (Assistant Scientific Diving Officer) for her assistance with most of the complicated logistical aspects, Shelly Cole (Office of the Under Secretary for Science) for her assistance with participant travel and purchase orders, Stacy Cavanagh (Office of the Under Secretary for Science) for authorizing expenditures and keeping track of the budget, and Smithsonian Environmental Research Center Director Anson Hines for his support as Chairman of the Smithsonian Scientific Diving Control Board. Finally, I thank my Workshop Co-Chair, Gene Smith, for his pertinent, advanced operational diving insights and support, and above all, pleasant willingness to ensure that this workshop and its proceedings become a model for those that follow. I enjoyed our collaboration and, from all indicators, have the sense that we succeeded in accomplishing our workshop objectives. Michael A. Lang Smithsonian Institution Workshop Co-Chair 5 Welcoming Remarks I offer you my welcome to the Smithsonian and am really pleased that all of you are here. This workshop agenda and the list of experts who are speaking and attending make it quickly apparent that the right mix of people have come together to discuss a topic that is important. I have to confess that I say important as an outsider. Those of you who knew me at NOAA know that I'm dreadfully claustrophobic and my maximum working depth is about the length of a snorkel. Once upon a time when I committed science as an oceanographer, this was not the kind of oceanography that I did. On the other hand, I did spend a certain amount of time bouncing around on top of the Monitor, in the early days of trying to do some assessment and preliminary recovery work there and saw some really interesting diving technology that the Navy brought to bear on that problem. That’s a nice recollection for a conference like this, that combination of programs and people with common technical interests and scientific goals getting together. In the Monitor case, it was NOAA and the Navy working at a National Marine Sanctuary, one of the sponsors of your event here along with the NURP program and the AAUS. I want to thank you for helping to pull this together. It was clear from that experience that going a bit deeper and using different technology was important for the people who had real problems to solve. The issues that come into Michael’s office here represent a constant pressure to push the limits of what our scientists can do. Getting a group together like this to actually deal with those questions and figure out how we can go about doing our deep science seems to me to be exactly the right mechanism. There are probably NOAA Diving Manual chapter authors present or certainly the work that all of you are responsible for was included as a collaborative effort, one that brings together people from a lot of different agencies with different specific missions or scientific goals. There is a real common interest in making the technology better, safer and more available to really expand where we can go and what we can do. I underscore the safety part because, with the exception of a meeting like this, I never hear about our scientific diving program. Once a year Michael