The NOAA Diving Manual: Diving for Science and Technology is a book originally published by the US Department of Commerce for use as training and operational guidance for National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration divers. NOAA also publish a Diving Standards and Safety Manual (NDSSM), which describes the minimum safety standards for their diving operations. Several editions of the diving manual have been published, and several editors and authors have contributed over the years. The book is widely used as a reference work by professional and recreational divers.
Overview
The book summarizes the state of the art for
scientific diving
Scientific diving is the use of underwater diving techniques by scientists to perform work underwater in the direct pursuit of scientific knowledge. The legal definition of scientific diving varies by jurisdiction. Scientific divers are normally q ...
,
and provides detailed but accessible explanations of the physics and physiology of diving, diving equipment, and diving procedures, at a level appropriate for the diving scientist and scientific diving team supervisor.
Content
The book is subdivided into sections and pages are numbered with reference to the section number. Sections of the second edition include:
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*Regional and special diving
*Air diving and decompression
*Mixed gas and oxygen diving
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*Surface support platforms
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*Aquatic animals hazardous to divers
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*Accident management
The appendices include:
*References
*Selected bibliography
*NOAA Diving Regulations
*US Navy Standard Air Decompression Tables
*NOAA Nitrox I Diving and Decompression Tables
*US Navy Recompression Treatment Tables
*Nitrogen-Oxygen Saturation Treatment Table
*Index
Reviews
The 4th edition was well received by Briscoe and Carmichael 2002 in Volume 15 of Oceanography
Impact
Although subtitled as Diving for Science and Technology, the NOAA Diving Manual is considered a useful reference for all fields of underwater diving.
Editions
The first edition was published by the US Department of Commerce in 1977,
The second edition was published by the US Department of Commerce in 1979 in hard? and soft cover. The editor was James W. Miller.
The third edition was published in 1991,
The fourth edition was published by
Best Publishing Company in 2001 in hardcover, softcover and searchable
CD-ROM
A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains data. Computers can read—but not write or erase—CD-ROMs. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold both comput ...
versions The new material in the 4th edition includes the use of "oxygen-enriched air," commonly called
Nitrox
Nitrox refers to any gas mixture composed (excepting trace gases) of nitrogen and oxygen. This includes atmospheric air, which is approximately 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, and 1% other gases, primarily argon. In the usual application, underwater ...
, which is widely used in both scientific and
recreational diving
Recreational diving or sport diving is diving for the purpose of leisure and enjoyment, usually when using scuba equipment. The term "recreational diving" may also be used in contradistinction to "technical diving", a more demanding aspect of r ...
to reduce the risk of
decompression sickness
Decompression sickness (abbreviated DCS; also called divers' disease, the bends, aerobullosis, and caisson disease) is a medical condition caused by dissolved gases emerging from solution as bubbles inside the body tissues during decompressio ...
.
The fifth edition was published in paperback by Best Publishing Company on June 10, 2013, with 875 pages.
The sixth edition was published in paperback and as an e-book by Best Publishing Company on July 31, 2017, with 800 pages, . New chapters in the 6th edition are: Advanced Platform Support – diving with ROVs/AUVs, submersibles, and atmospheric diving systems, and Underwater Photography and Videography. Other chapters were significantly revised: Diving Equipment, Procedures for Scientific Dives, Rebreathers, and Polluted-Water Diving. The editor was Greg McFall.
References
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National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Underwater diving books