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Outline of underwater diving

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to underwater diving:

Two divers wearing lightweight demand helmets stand back-to-back on an underwater platform holding on to the railings. The photo also shows the support vessel above the surface in the background.
Surface-supplied divers riding a stage to the underwater workplace

Underwater diving – as a human activity, is the practice of descending below the water's surface to interact with the environment.

What type of activity is underwater diving?

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Underwater diving can be described as all of the following:

  • A human activity – intentional, purposive, conscious and subjectively meaningful sequence of actions. Underwater diving is practiced as part of an occupation, or for recreation, where the practitioner submerges below the surface of the water or other liquid for a period which may range between seconds to the order of a day at a time, either exposed to the ambient pressure or isolated by a pressure resistant suit, to interact with the underwater environment for pleasure, competitive sport, or as a means to reach a work site for profit or in the pursuit of knowledge, and may use no equipment at all, or a wide range of equipment which may include breathing apparatus, environmental protective clothing, aids to vision, communication, propulsion, maneuverability, buoyancy and safety equipment, and tools for the task at hand.

Diving activity, by type

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Modes of underwater diving

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Surface-supplied diver with helmet, bailout set and umbilcal cable

There are several modes of diving distinguished by the equipment and procedures used:

Diving skills and procedures

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Technical divers at a midwater decompression stop
Divers decompressing in the water at the end of a dive
Divers doing a buddy check
Sidemount diver pushing a cylinder in front
Solo diver surveying dive site. The bailout cylinder can be seen slung at the diver's left side.

Diving procedures – Standardised methods of doing things that are known to work effectively and acceptably safely

Diving support skills and procedures

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Underwater diving, by environment

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Ice Diving – View from the top

Underwater diving environment – The underwater environment to which a diver may be exposed

Occupational diving

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Diver wearing a diving helmet is welding a repair patch on a submarine
Underwater welding.
NAUI Nitrox diver certification card
Pearl diver in Japan
Nesconset fire department scuba rescue team on training exercise
Salvaging a ship's propeller
Diver wearing a diving helmet is sanding a repair patch on a submarine
A diver at work on hull maintenance
Sponge diver putting on his diving suit in Tarpon Springs, Florida.

Professional diving, also known as occupational diving – Underwater diving where divers are paid for their work

Recreational diving

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Diver returning from a 600 ft (183 m) technical dive
Two underwater hockey players competing for the puck
Underwater photographer
Divers on the wreck of the Zenobia

Recreational diving – Diving for the purpose of leisure and enjoyment, usually when using scuba equipment

Diving and support equipment, tools and weapons

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Small high-pressure breathing air compressor
A small scuba filling and blending station supplied by a compressor and storage bank
Hydrospace Explorer Trimix and rebreather dive computer. Suunto Mosquito with aftermarket strap and iDive DAN recreational dive computers
Three representative wrist-mount dive computers
International code flag Alpha indicates that a diver is underwater nearby
A closed bell used for saturation diving
Lifting bag used to move a heavy object underwater
The Newtsuit atmospheric diving suit
US Navy Diver using Kirby Morgan 37 diving helmet
Helmeted diver entering the water. He has a back mounted Draeger DM40 rebreather system in addition to the surface supply air hose
Scuba diver with bifocal lenses in half mask
A diver wearing an Ocean Reef full face mask
U.S. Navy divers in dry suits prepare to dive
Two men operating a rotary diver's air pump

Diving equipment

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Diving equipment – Equipment used to facilitate underwater diving

  • Autonomous underwater vehicle – Uncrewed underwater vehicle with autonomous guidance system
  • Breathing gas – Gas used for human respiration
  • Buoyancy control device – Equipment for controlling the buoyancy of a diver
  • Decompression equipment – Equipment used by divers to facilitate decompression
  • Dive light – Light used underwater by a diver
  • Diver propulsion vehicle – Powered device for diver mobility and range extension
  • Diving bell – Chamber for transporting divers vertically through the water
    • Dry bell, also known as closed bell – Hyperbaric chamber for transporting diversvertically through the water
    • Wet bell, also known as open bell – Platform for transporting divers vertically through the water
  • Diving mask – Watertight air-filled face cover with view-ports for improving underwater vision
  • Diving safety equipment – Equipment used to facilitate underwater diving safety
  • Diving suit – Garment or device designed to protect a diver from the underwater environment
    • Atmospheric diving suit – Articulated pressure resistant anthropomorphic housing for an underwater diver
    • Dry suit – Watertight clothing that seals the wearer from cold and hazardous liquids
    • Hot water suit – A wetsuit with a supply of heated water to keep a diver warm
    • Rash guard, also known as rash vest – Stretch garment for protection from abrasion, UV and stings
    • Wetsuit – Garment for thermal insulation from water
    • Standard diving dress – Copper helmet with rubberised canvas diving suit and weighted boots
  • Diving weighting system – Ballast carried to counteract buoyancy
    • Ankle weights (diving) – Diver trim weights worn at the ankles
    • Clip-on weight – Small weights used to make fine adjustments to a diver's ballast
    • Clump weight – A heavy weight suspended on cable used to guide a diving bell
    • Helmet weight – Ballast added to a diving helmet to prevent it from floating
    • Integrated weights, also known as BCD integrated weights, or pocket weights – Diving weights carried in pockets on the buoyancy compensator
    • Keel weight (diving) – Weight added to a diver's backplate
    • Tank weight, also known as cylinder weight – Ballast weight attached to a scuba cylinder
    • Trim weights (diving) – Diving weights distributed primarily to improve trim
    • Weight belt – A ballasted waist belt worn by a diver
    • Weight pocket – Container on diving equipment to hold ballast
    • Weighted shoes (diving), also known as Weighted boots (diving) – Shoes with heavy metal soles used as part of a diver's weights
    • Weight harness – Webbing system to support diver ballast weights
    • Diving weight – Ballast carried by a diver to counteract buoyancy or adjust trim
  • Remotely operated underwater vehicle – A tethered underwater mobile device operated by a remote crew
  • Snorkel – Tube for breathing face down at the surface of the water
  • Swimfin – Finlike accessories worn on the feet, used for swimming, snorkeling and diving propulsion
    • Monofin – Single blade swimfin attached to both feet
  • Towboard – Underwater survey equipment used to tow a diver
  • Underwater breathing apparatus – Equipment which provides breathing gas to an underwater diver
  • Atmospheric diving suit (ADS) – Articulated pressure resistant anthropomorphic housing for an underwater diver
  • Crewed submersible – Small watercraft able to navigate under water

Autonomous underwater vehicles

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Autonomous underwater vehicle – Uncrewed underwater vehicle with autonomous guidance system

  • Autonomous Robotics Ltd – UK company developing an autonomous underwater vehicle
  • AUV-150 – Unmanned underwater vehicle in development in by Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute
  • AUV Abyss – Autonomous underwater vehicle for mapping of the seabed and water column data collection
  • Boaty McBoatface – British autonomous underwater vehicle
  • DeepC – Autonomous underwater vehicle powered by a fuel cell
  • DEPTHX – Autonomous underwater vehicle for exploring sinkholes in Mexico
  • Echo Ranger – Marine autonomous underwater vehicle built by Boeing
  • Eelume – Autonomous underwater vehicle being developed by Eelume AS
  • Explorer AUV – Autonomous underwater vehicle from People's Republic of China
  • Intelligent Water class AUV – Autonomous underwater vehicle for the People's Liberation Army Navy
  • Intervention AUV – Type of autonomous underwater vehicle capable of autonomous interventions
  • iRobot Seaglider – Deep diving autonomous underwater vehicle for long term missions
  • Maya AUV India – Autonomous underwater vehicle from National Institute of Oceanography, India
  • Nereus (underwater vehicle) – Hybrid remotely operated or autonomous underwater vehicle
  • REMUS (AUV) – Autonomous underwater vehicle series
  • Sentry (AUV) – Autonomous underwater vehicle made by Woods Hole Oceanographic institution
  • Spindle (vehicle) – Ice penetrating two-stage autonomous underwater vehicle
  • SPURV – Self propelled underwater research vehicle built in 1957 for the US Navy
  • SPURV II – Special purpose underwater research vessel built to srudy submarine wakes
  • Theseus (AUV) – Large autonomous underwater vehicle for laying fibre-optic cable

Breathing gas

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Breathing gas – Gas used for human respiration

  • Breathing gases by composition:
    • Argox – Gas mixture occasionally used by scuba divers for dry-suit inflation
    • Breathing air – Air quality suitable for safe breathing
    • Heliox – A breathing gas mixed from helium and oxygen
    • Hydreliox – Breathing gas mixture of hydrogen, helium, and oxygen
    • Hydrox (breathing gas) – Breathing gas mixture experimentally used for very deep diving
    • Nitrox – Breathing gas, mixture of nitrogen and oxygen
    • Oxygen – Chemical element with symbol O and atomic number 8
    • Trimix (breathing gas) – Breathing gas consisting of oxygen, helium and nitrogen
  • Breathing gases by use:
    • Bailout gas – Emergency breathing gas supply carried by the diver
    • Bottom gas – Gas breathed during the deep part of a dive
    • Decompression gas – Oxygen-rich gas used for accelerated decompression
    • Emergency gas supply – Alternative independent breathing gas supply carried by a diver
    • Travel gas – Gas breathed during the descent part of a dive

Decompression equipment

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Decompression equipment – Equipment used by divers to facilitate decompression

Diver propulsion vehicles

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Diver propulsion vehicle – Powered device for diver mobility and range extension

Diving safety equipment

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Diving safety equipment – Equipment used to facilitate underwater diving safety

Historical diving equipment

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Rebreather types and components

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Diving rebreather – Closed or semi-closed circuit scuba

Rebreather makes and models

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  • Carleton CDBA – Military rebreather by Cobham plc
  • Clearance Divers Life Support Equipment – British military electronically controlled closed circuit rebreather
  • Cis-Lunar – Manufacturer of electronically controlled closed-circuit rebreathers for scuba diving
  • CUMA – Canadian military diving rebreather
  • Davis Submerged Escape Apparatus – Early submarine escape oxygen rebreather also used for shallow water diving.
  • Dräger Dolphin – Semi-closed circuit recreational diving rebreather
  • Dräger Ray – Semi-closed circuit diving rebreather
  • FROGS – Closed circuit oxygen diving rebreather
  • Halcyon RB80 – Non-depth-compensated passive addition semi-closed circuit rebreather
  • Halcyon PVR-BASC – Semi-closed circuit depth compensated passive addition diving rebreather
  • IDA71 – Russian military rebreather for underwater and high altitude use
  • Interspiro DCSC – Military semi-closed circuit passive addition diving rebreather
  • KISS – Manual closed circuit mixed gas rebreather
  • LAR-5, LAR-6, and LAR-V represented by Dräger (company) – German manufacturer of breathing equipment
  • Lambertsen Amphibious Respiratory Unit – Early closed circuit oxygen diving rebreather
  • Porpoise – Australian scuba manufacturer
  • Siebe Gorman CDBA – Type of diving rebreather used by the Royal Navy
  • Siva – Range of military rebreathers
  • Viper – Electronically-controlled closed circuit mixed gas military rebreather

Gas extenders:

Remotely operated underwater vehicles

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Remotely operated underwater vehicle – A tethered underwater mobile device operated by a remote crew

  • 8A4-class ROUV – Chinese work class remotely operated underwater vehicle
  • ABISMO – Japanese remotely operated underwater vehicle for deep sea exploration
  • Atlantis ROV Team – High-school underwater robotics team from Whidbey Island, Washington, United States
  • CURV – Early remotely operated underwater vehicle
  • Épaulard – French remotely operated underwater vehicle of the Ifremer
  • Global Explorer ROV – Deep water science and survey remotely operated vehicle
  • Goldfish-class ROUV – Light class of Chinese remotely operated underwater vehicle
  • Kaikō ROV – Japanese remotely operated underwater vehicle for deep sea exploration
  • Long-Term Mine Reconnaissance System – American torpedo tube-launched underwater search and survey unmanned undersea vehicle
  • Mini Rover ROV – Small, low cost observation class remotely operated underwater vehicle
  • OpenROV – Open-source remotely operated underwater vehicle
  • ROV KIEL 6000 – Remotely operated vehicle built by Schilling Robotics, Davis, California for scientific tasks
  • ROV PHOCA – Remotely operated underwater vehicle of the COMANCHE type
  • Scorpio ROV – Work class remotely operated underwater vehicle
  • Sea Dragon-class ROV – Chinese deep diving work class remotely operated underwater vehicle
  • Seabed tractor – Special purpose class of remotely operated underwater vehicle
  • Seafox drone – Remotely operated anti-mine marine drone
  • SeaPerch – Remotely operated underwater vehicle educational program
  • SJT-class ROUV – Series of Chinese remotely operated underwater vehicles
  • T1200 Trenching Unit – Remotely operated seabed trenching unit
  • VideoRay UROVs – Series of inspection class remotely operated underwater vehicles

Underwater breathing apparatus

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Underwater breathing apparatus – Equipment which provides breathing gas to an underwater diver

Diving support equipment

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Diving support equipment – Equipment used in the support of an underwater diving operation

Underwater work tools and equipment

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Soviet SPP-1 underwater pistol
Airlift dredging
ROV at work in an underwater oil and gas field. The ROV is operating a subsea torque tool (wrench) on a valve on the subsea structure.

Underwater work tools and equipment – Tools and equipment used for underwater work

Underwater weapons

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Underwater weapons – Weapons that are intended for use underwater

Diving support personnel

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There are also diver support activities which require assessed competence and registration for which formal training may be required.

Science of underwater diving

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The diving environment

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Plunging breaker
Lago Licancabur, site of world's highest ever altitude dive.
Entrance to Peacock Springs Cave System

Underwater diving environment – The underwater environment to which a diver may be exposed

Physics of underwater diving

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Views through a flat mask, above and below water

Physics of underwater diving – Aspects of physics which affect the underwater diver

  • Buoyancy – Upward force that opposes the weight of an object immersed in fluid
  • Diffusion – Transport of dissolved species from the highest to the lowest concentration region
    • Molecular diffusion – Thermal motion of liquid or gas particles at temperatures above absolute zero
    • Permeation – Penetration of a liquid, gas, or vapor through a solid
  • Force – Influence that can change motion of an object
    • Weight – Force on a mass due to gravity
  • Ideal gas law – Equation of the state of a hypothetical ideal gas
    • Combined gas law – Combination of Charles', Boyle's and Gay-Lussac's gas laws
    • Amontons' law – Relationship between pressure and temperature of a gas at constant volume
    • Boyle's law – Relation between gas pressure and volume
    • Charles's law – Relationship between volume and temperature of a gas at constant pressure
    • Gay-Lussac's law – Relationship between pressure and temperature of a gas at constant volume
  • Pressure – Force distributed over an area
  • Psychrometric constant – Relation of the partial pressure of water in air to temperature
  • Solubility – Capacity of a substance to dissolve in a homogeneous way
    • Henry's law – Gas law regarding proportionality of dissolved gas
    • Solution – Homogeneous mixture of a solute and a solvent
    • Supersaturation – State of a solution that contains more solute than can be dissolved at equilibrium
  • Surface tension – Tendency of a liquid surface to shrink to reduce surface area
    • Hydrophobe – Molecule or surface that has no attraction to water
    • Surfactant – Substance that lowers the surface tension between a liquid and another material
  • Underwater vision – The ability to see objects underwater
    • Snell's law, also known as Law of refraction – Formula for refraction angles
  • Work of breathing (WoB) – Energy expended to inhale and exhale a breathing gas

Physiology of underwater diving

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Diagram of the human circulatory system
Decompression profiles based on the Thermodynamic model compared with the US Navy table for the same depth and bottom time
Diagram of the human respiratory system

Human physiology of underwater diving – Influences of the underwater environment on the physiology of human divers

Diving medicine, disorders and treatment

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Oxygen therapy in a multiplace hyperbaric chamber is often delivered via built in breathing systems.
Monoplace chambers can be used for hyperbaric oxygen therapy if the patient is stable

Diving medicine

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Diving medicine – Diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disorders caused by underwater diving

Diving disorders and treatment

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Mask squeeze - a mild form of barotrauma
Staged image showing how victims may black out quietly underwater, often going unnoticed.

Diving disorders – Physiological disorders resulting from underwater diving

Diving safety

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A dive team listens to a safety brief from their dive supervisor
Early testing for oxygen toxicity in divers
Tags in place in a powerplant after it was shut down
Folding lockout hasp, allowing six padlocks to lock out one device.
Checklists reduce the risk of omitting a step in a procedure

Diving safety – Risk management of underwater diving activities

Diving incidents, rescues, and fatalities

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The decompression chamber at the moment the Byford Dolphin accident occurred. D1–D4 are divers; T1 and T2 are dive tenders.

Incidents and people involved in a notable incident while diving or during a diving operation.

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Legal aspects of diving – How underwater diving and divers are affected by law

Geography of diving

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Recreational diver over a coral reef in the Red Sea

Recreational dive sites are specific places that recreational scuba divers go to enjoy the underwater environment or for training purposes. They include technical diving sites beyond the range generally accepted for recreational diving. In this context all diving done for recreational purposes is included. Professional diving tends to be done where the job is, and with the exception of diver training and leading groups of recreational divers, does not generally occur at specific sites chosen for their easy access, pleasant conditions or interesting features.

Recreational dive sites may be found in a wide range of bodies of water, and may be popular for various reasons, including accessibility, biodiversity, spectacular topography, historical or cultural interest and artifacts (such as shipwrecks), and water clarity. Tropical waters of high biodiversity and colourful sea life are popular recreational diving vacation destinations. South-east Asia, the Caribbean islands, the Red Sea and the Great Barrier Reef of Australia are regions where the clear, warm, waters, reasonably predictable conditions and colourful and diverse sea life have made recreational diving an economically important tourist industry.

Recreational divers may accept a relatively high level of risk to dive at a site perceived to be of special interest. Wreck diving and cave diving have their adherents, and enthusiasts will endure considerable hardship, risk and expense to visit caves and wrecks where few have been before. Some sites are popular almost exclusively for their convenience for training and practice of skills, such as flooded quarries. They are generally found where more interesting and pleasant diving is not locally available, or may only be accessible when weather or water conditions permit.

While divers may choose to get into the water at any arbitrary place that seems like a good idea at the time, a popular recreational dive site will usually be named, and a geographical position identified and recorded, describing the site with enough accuracy to recognise it, and hopefully, find it again. (Full article...)

History of underwater diving

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Siebe's improved design in 1873.

History of underwater diving – Developments over time in the human activity

Military and covert operations

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Italian Maiale manned torpedo "Siluro San Bartolomeo" displayed at the Royal Navy Submarine Museum, Gosport, UK.

Underwater salvage operations

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Salvage of Royal George

Training, certification, registration and standards

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Commercial diver training at Blue Rock Quarry

Diver training

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  • Diver training – Processes to develop the skills and knowledge to dive safely underwater
  • Diver certification – Certification as competent to dive to a specified standard

Diver training can be distinguished between recreational and occupational diver training. Recreational diver training tends to be split into small skill sets for customer convenience and provider profitability. Recreational diver training systems include training and registration of instructors and dive leaders for recreational diving

Professional diver training is usually for registration based on mode of diving and requires a wider range of competence for a range of equipment skills and environments. Titles of certificates vary, but the basic competences are similar and may be internationally recognised by agreement.

Scientific diving is occupational diving in the pursuit of scientific knowledge, and there may be different conditions that apply regionally regarding regulation and registration.

Diver certification organisations

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List of diver certification organizations – Agencies which issue certification for competence in diving skills

Organisations setting international standards and codes of practice for diving and diver training

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Commercial diving schools

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Underwater diving organisations

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Diver membership organisations

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Diver membership organisations

Diver nature conservation organisations

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Diving industry trade associations

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Underwater environmental research organisations

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Diving medical research organisations

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Underwater diving publications

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Books and manuals

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Legislation

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Codes of practice

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(National or international codes of practice for diving)

Standards

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(National or international standards relating to diving equipment or practices)

Buoyancy compensators

  • EN 1809:1998 Diving accessories. Buoyancy compensators. Functional and safety requirements, test methods.
  • EN 1809:2014+A1:2016 Diving equipment. Buoyancy compensators. Functional and safety requirements, test methods.

Depth gauges

  • EN 13319:2000 Diving accessories. Depth gauges and combined depth and time measuring devices. Functional and safety requirements, test methods.

Diver training

  • ISO 24801 Recreational diving services – Requirements for the training of recreational scuba divers
  • ISO 21417 Recreational diving services – Requirements for training on environmental awareness for recreational divers

Diving masks

GOST 20568:1975 compliant Russian and Ukrainian diving masks
  • ANSI Z87.11:1985 Underwater Safety. Recreational Skin and Scuba Diving. Lenses for Masks.
  • BN-82/8444-17.01 Gumowy sprzęt pływacki - Maski pływackie (Rubber swimming equipment - Swimming masks).
  • BS 4532:1969 Specification for snorkels and face masks. Amended 1977.
  • CNS 12497:1989 潛水鏡. Diving mask.
  • CNS 12498:1989 潛水鏡檢驗法. Method of test for diving mask.
  • DIN 7877:1980 Tauch-Zubehör. Tauchbrillen. Sicherheitstechnische Anforderungen und Prüfung. Diving accessories for skin divers. Diver's masks. Requirements and testing.
  • EN 16805:2015 Diving equipment. Diving mask. Requirements and test methods.
  • GOST 20568:1975 Маски резиновые для плавания под водой. Общие технические условие. Rubber masks for submarine swimming. General specifications.
  • ÖNORM S 4225 Tauch-Zubehör; Tauchmasken (Tauchbrillen); Sicherheitstechnische Anforderungen, Prüfung, Normkennzeichnung. Diving accessories; divers’ masks; safety requirements, testing, marking of conformity.

Dry suits

Recreational diving services

  • ISO 21416 Recreational diving services – Requirements and guidance on environmentally sustainable practices in recreational diving

Snorkels

A range of 1970s snorkels made to British Standard BS 4532:1969
  • BS 4532:1969 Specification for snorkels and face masks. Amended 1977.
  • DIN 7878:1980 Tauch-Zubehör; Schnorchel; Maße, Anforderungen, Prüfung. Diving accessories for skin divers. Snorkel. Technical requirements of safety, testing.
  • DIN 7878:1991 Tauch-Zubehör; Schnorchel; Sicherheitstechnische Anforderungen und Prüfung. Diving accessories for skin divers. Snorkel. Safety requirements and testing.
  • EN 1972:1997 – European standard design and manufacture of snorkels Diving accessories. Snorkels. Safety requirements.
  • EN 1972:2015 Diving equipment. Snorkels. Requirements and test methods.
  • ÖNORM S 4223:1988 Tauch-Zubehör; Schnorchel; Abmessungen, sicherheitstechnische Anforderungen, Prüfung, Normkennzeichnung. Diving accessories; snorkels; dimensions, safety requirements, testing, marking of conformity.

Swimfins

Swim fin sole showing compliance with German standard DIN 7876:1980
  • BN-82/8444-17.02 Gumowy sprzęt pływacki - Płetwy pływackie (Rubber swimming equipment - Swimming fins).
  • DIN 7876:1980 Tauchzubehör. Schwimmflossen. Maße, Anforderungen und Prüfung. Diving accessories for skin divers. Flippers. Dimensions, requirements and testing.
  • EN 16804:2015 Diving equipment. Diving open heel fins. Requirements and test methods.
  • GOST 22469:1977 Ласты резиновые для плавания. Общие технические условия. Swimming rubber flippers. General specifications.
  • MIL-S-82258:1965 Military specification. Swim fins, rubber.
  • MS 974:1985 Specification for rubber swimming fins.
  • MS 974:2002 Specification for rubber swimming fins. First revision.
  • ÖNORM S 4224:1988 Tauch-Zubehör; Schwimmflossen; Abmessungen, sicherheitstechnische Anforderungen, Prüfung, Normkennzeichnung. Diving accessories; fins; dimensions, safety requirements, testing, marking of conformity.

Underwater breathing apparatus

  • BS EN 1802:2002 Transportable gas cylinders. Periodic inspection and testing of seamless aluminium alloy gas cylinders
  • BS EN 1968:2002 Transportable gas cylinders. Periodic inspection and testing of seamless steel gas cylinders
  • EN 14143-2003 Respiratory equipment - Self-contained re-breathing diving apparatus

Wetsuits

Journals and magazines

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Repositories

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Recreational dive site guides

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Notable dive site guides with Wikipedia article.

Authors of publications about diving

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Bob Halstead

Authors of general non-fiction works on diving topics who are the subjects of Wikipedia articles.

  • Michael C. Barnette – American underwater diver, author and founder of the Association of Underwater Explorers
  • Victor Berge – Swedish diving pioneer and author
  • Philippe Diolé – French author and undersea explorer
  • Gary Gentile – American author and pioneering technical diver
  • Bob Halstead – Underwater photographer, author, journalist and commentator on the recreational diving industry.
  • Jarrod Jablonski – Pioneer American cave diver, author and previous cave diving record holder
  • Trevor Jackson (diver) – Australian technical diver and author
  • Richie Kohler – American technical diver and shipwreck historian
  • Steve Lewis (diver) – Technical scuba diver and author
  • John Mattera – American wreck diver and author
  • Tom Mount – Pioneering technical and cave diver (1939–2022)

Documentaries

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Documentary movies focused on underwater diving.

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Movies, novels, TV series and shows, comics, graphic art, sculpture, games, myths, legends, and misconceptions. Fiction in general relating to all forms of diving, including hypothetical and imaginary methods, and other aspects of underwater diving which have become part of popular culture.

Researchers in diving medicine and physiology

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John Scott Haldane c. 1910
Paul Bert

Underwater divers

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This is a list of underwater divers whose exploits have made them notable. Underwater divers are people who take part in underwater diving activitiesUnderwater diving is practiced as part of an occupation, or for recreation, where the practitioner submerges below the surface of the water or other liquid for a period which may range between seconds to order of a day at a time, either exposed to the ambient pressure or isolated by a pressure resistant suit, to interact with the underwater environment for pleasure, competitive sport, or as a means to reach a work site for profit or in the pursuit of knowledge, and may use no equipment at all, or a wide range of equipment which may include breathing apparatus, environmental protective clothing, aids to vision, communication, propulsion, maneuverability, buoyancy and safety equipment, and tools for the task at hand. (Full article...)

Pioneers of diving

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Jacques Cousteau
  • James F. Cahill – American scuba diving pioneer
  • Alphonse and Théodore Carmagnolle – French inventors of the first anthropomorphic armoured diving suit
  • Charles Condert – Inventor of an unsuccessful early scuba system
  • Jacques Cousteau – Inventor of scuba-diving apparatus and film-maker
  • Charles Anthony Deane – Pioneering diving engineer and inventor of a surface supplied diving helmet
  • John Deane – Joint inventor of the diving helmet
  • Louis de Corlieu – French naval officer and inventor of the swimfin
  • Guglielmo de Lorena – Italian inventor of a diving bell used for archaeological work on the Roman ships of lake Nemi
  • Auguste Denayrouze – French inventor of a demand air supply regulator for underwater diving
  • Frédéric Dumas – French pioneer of scuba diving
  • Ted Eldred – Australian inventor of the single hose diving regulator
  • Maurice Fernez – French inventor and pioneer in underwater breathing apparatus
  • Émile Gagnan – French engineer and co-inventor of the open circuit demand scuba regulator
  • Bret Gilliam – Pioneering technical diver and author.
  • Edmond Halley – English astronomer, geophysicist, mathematician, meteorologist, and physicist
  • Hans Hass – Austrian biologist, film-maker, and underwater diving pioneer
  • Stig Insulán – Inventor of an adjustable automatic exhaust valve for variable volume dry suits
  • Jim Jarret – Diver who test dived the first successful atmospheric diving suits
  • Yves Le Prieur – French naval officer and inventor of a free-flow scuba system
  • John Lethbridge – English wool merchant who invented a diving machine in 1715
  • William Hogarth Main – Cave diver and scuba configuration experimentalist
  • Phil Nuytten – Canadian deep-ocean explorer, scientist, and inventor of the Newtsuit
  • Joseph Salim Peress – pioneering British diving engineer
  • Benoît Rouquayrol – French inventor of an early diving demand regulator
  • Dick Rutkowski – American pioneer in hyperbaric and diving medicine and use of mixed breathing gases for diving
  • Joe Savoie – Inventor of the neck dam for lightweight helmets
  • Augustus Siebe – German-born British engineer mostly known for his contributions to diving equipment
  • Charles Spalding – Scottish confectioner and amateur diving bell designer
  • Robert Sténuit – Belgian journalist, writer, underwater archeologist and the first aquanaut.
  • Arne Zetterström – Diver involved in experimental work with Hydrox breathing gas

Underwater art and artists

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Christ of the Abyss at San Fruttuoso, Liguria

Diving tourism

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Awards and events

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Terminology

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See also

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References

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