Scientific Diving Operations with Untethered Open-Circuit Mixed gas SCUBA.

Abstract

In 1993, the NOAA Undersea Research Center at the University of North Carolina Wilmington (NURC/UNCW) began exploring the possibility of offering a technical diving program to visiting investigators for scientific research applications. The need for a technical diving capability was realized after a review of the attempts by the NOAA Diving Program (NDP) to support deep, mixed gas diving operations for a team of underwater archaeologists and scientific divers exploring the USS Monitor. The discovery of the wreck of USS Monitor established the first designated National Marine Sanctuary by NOAA and lies at a depth 240 fsw. Access to this site is considered by some beyond the reach of conventional, open-circuit compressed air scuba diving techniques. The review of this initial NOAA tethered, scuba diving effort lead NURC/UNCW to establishing a new diving program to support the scientific community wanting to conduct in-situ research beyond a depth of 130 fsw while safely exceeding the no-decompression limits using specialized techniques and equipment. NURC/UNCW currently possesses an in-house capability of supporting scientific research diving up to 300 fsw using untethered, open-circuit scuba technology. Each year NURC/UNCW supports at least one technical diving operation.