Underwater exploration

Short description: Investigating or traveling around underwater for the purpose of discovery

DSV Alvin, a crewed submersible, much used for underwater exploration

Underwater exploration is the exploration of any underwater environment, either by direct observation by the explorer, or by remote observation and measurement under the direction of the investigators. Systematic, targeted exploration is the most effective method to increase understanding of the ocean and other underwater regions, so they can be effectively managed, conserved, regulated, and their resources discovered, accessed, and used. Less than 10% of the ocean has been mapped in any detail, less has been visually observed, and the total diversity of life and distribution of populations is similarly obscure.

Types of exploration include investigation of the form and extent of the body of water or part thereof, investigation of the geological characteristics of the seabed and freshwater equivalents, and investigation of the geological structure, strata, and sediments underlying the body of water, investigation of the physical and ecological characteristics of the body of water and its containing geographical features, discovery and investigation of shipwrecks and archeological sites, and direct and remote visual observation of what is there.

The oceans can be divided into deep ocean and coastal waters. Inland waters are mostly fresh, and consist of rivers, lakes and ground water, some of which is in accessible caves.

Underwater exploration is largely a recent development, as it relies heavily on fairly advanced technology over almost all of the relevant territory.

## Contents

* 1 Scope
* 2 Objectives
* 3 Status
* 3.1 Oceans
* 3.2 Inland waters
* 3.3 Subterranean waters
* 4 Types of underwater exploration
* 5 Regions of the underwater environment
* 5.1 Deep-sea
* 5.2 Coastal waters
* 5.3 Lakes and rivers
* 5.4 Caves
* 6 Modes of exploration
* 6.1 Direct measurements
* 6.1.1 Surface platforms
* 6.1.2 Underwater diving
* 6.1.3 Crewed submersibles
* 6.1.4 Remotely operated and autonomous underwater vehicles
* 6.2 Remote sensing
* 6.2.1 Techniques and technologies
* 6.3 Platforms
* 7 Discoveries
* 8 History
* 9 Organisations, programs and projects
* 10 See also
* 11 References
* 12 External links

## Scope

Exploration is the process of exploring, which has been defined as (amongst other possible meanings):[1]

* To examine or investigate something systematically.
* To travel somewhere in search of discovery.
* To (seek) experience first hand.
* To wander without any particular aim or purpose.

According to the definition. this does not necessarily require the explorer to be present at the point of investigation, so exploration of the underwater environment by remotely operated equipment, remote measurement, and autonomous devices programmed to explore the underwater environment is included. Surveys of the underwater environment, particularly geographical surveys, are also considered to be underwater exploration in a broad sense, as they are a form of systematic investigation for information not yet known in the desired detail.

Systematic investigation is the realm of science, both professional and amateur, particularly when findings are published in some way for the benefit of the wider community. Some results of systematic exploration are kept hidden from the general public for commercial and political reasons.

To travel in search of discovery is a luxury that most people and organisations cannot afford. This form of exploration is largely the domain of the wealthy and the dedicated. When financial backing occurs, the investigations tend to become systematic and targeted.

To seek experience first hand and to wander without any particular aim or purpose is recreation, and the discoveries from this aspect of exploration are likely to be personal, limited, and repetitive, as various people explore the same environment at different times. Discovery by this route tends to be published only when something obviously unusual is found, and is likely to be published as news.

## Objectives

The scope of underwater exploration includes the distribution and variety of marine and aquatic life, measurement of the geographical distribution of the chemical and physical properties, including movement of the water, and the geophysical, geological and topographical features of the Earth's crust where it is covered by water.[2]

Systematic, targeted exploration is the most effective method to increase understanding of the ocean and other underwater regions, so they can be effectively managed, conserved, regulated, and their resources discovered, accessed, and used. The ocean covers approximately 70% of Earth's surface and has a critical role in supporting life on the planet but knowledge and understanding of the ocean remains limited due to difficulty and cost of access.[3]

The distinction between exploration, survey, and other research is somewhat blurred, and one way of looking at it is to consider the baseline surveys and research as exploration, as previously unknown information is gathered. Updating and refining the data is less exploratory in nature, but may still be exploration for the people involved, in the sense that the experience is new to them.

## Status

### Oceans

According to NOAA, as of January 2023: "More than eighty percent of our ocean is unmapped, unobserved, and unexplored." Less than 10% of the ocean, including about 35% of the ocean and coastal waters of the United States, have been mapped in any detail using sonar technology.[4] According to GEBCO 2019 data, less than 18% of the deep ocean bed has been mapped using direct measurement and about 50% of coastal waters were not yet surveyed.[5]

Most of the data used to create seabed maps are approximate depths derived from satellite gravity measurements and sea surface heights which are affected by the shape and mass distribution of the seabed. This method of approximation only provides low resolution information on large topographical features, and can miss significant features.[6]

### Inland waters

### Subterranean waters

See also: Earth:Speleology; Hydrology; and Cave diving § Exploration, surveys and mapping

The extent of flooded caves is largely known as a result of underwater exploration and survey of those caves by divers. ROV and AUV technology is starting to be used in larger and deeper caves.[7] Data collected is often shared and may be stored on databases to help optimise the effectiveness of such surveys, and make the information generally available.[8]

Underwater cave mapping is complicated by a lack of access to the surface for GPS positions, darkness, with short line-of-sight, and limited visibility, which complicate optical measurement.[8] The usual methods for survey and mapping of underwater caves are dead reckoning and direct measurements of distance, compass direction and depth, by scuba divers.[8] Hand-held sonar may be used for distance measurement where available.

## Types of underwater exploration

* Investigation of the form and extent of the body of water or part thereof. (oceanography)
* Remote acoustic and satellite sensing, radar altimeters
* Sonar, high resolution with multibeam
* Direct measurement by divers of cave and reef structure using depth gauge, compass, clinometer and surveyor's tape, hand held sonar, and other instruments where applicable.
* Investigation of the geological characteristics of the seabed and freshwater equivalents, and through-ground investigation of the geological structure, strata, and sediments.
* Investigation of the physical and ecological characteristics of the body of water and its containing geographical features.
* Identification and recording of numbers and distribution of biological specimens
* Collection of biological samples by divers, grabs, nets, dredges, manned and unmanned submersibles
* Infra-red and microwave radiometers for sea surface temperature measurement
* Bottom sampling: Grabs, dredges, gravity core sampler, piston corer, hydraulic piston corer[2] core drill
* Measurement and recording of the physical and chemical characteristics if the water
* Discovery and investigation of shipwrecks and archeological sites
* Magnetometer, multibeam sonar
* Direct and remote visual observation
* Divers and crewed observation submersibles, remotely operated underwater vehicles and autonomous underwater vehicles, video and still photography.

## Regions of the underwater environment

The oceans can be divided into deep ocean and coastal waters. Inland waters are mostly fresh, and consist of rivers, lakes and ground water, some of which is in accessible caves.

### Deep-sea

Main article: Deep-sea exploration

The submersible's manipulator arm collecting a crab trap containing five galatheid crabs. This is an eel trap that has been modified to better catch deep sea fauna. Life on the Edge 2005 Expedition.

Deep-sea exploration is the investigation of physical, chemical, and biological conditions on the sea bed, and water column beyond the continental shelf for scientific, commercial or other purposes. Deep-sea exploration is considered a relatively recent human activity compared to the other areas of geophysical research, as the depths of the sea have been investigated only during comparatively recent years. The ocean depths still remain a largely unexplored part of the Earth, and form a relatively undiscovered domain.

In general, modern scientific deep-sea exploration can be said to have begun when French scientist Pierre-Simon de Laplace investigated the average depth of the Atlantic Ocean by observing tidal motions registered on Brazilian and African coasts. He calculated the depth to be 3,962 metres (12,999 ft), a value later proven quite accurate by echo-sounding measurement techniques.[9] Later on, due to increasing demand for the installment of submarine cables, accurate measurements of the sea floor depth were required and the first investigations of the sea bottom were undertaken. The first deep-sea life forms were discovered in 1864 when Norwegian Michael Sars obtained a sample of a stalked crinoid at a depth of 3,109 m (10,200 ft).[10]

### Coastal waters

Multibeam sonar bathymetry is an accurate and efficient way of mapping waters of moderate depth.

Coastal waters and waters of the continental shelf have been explored more systematically than deeper waters, since they are to a large extent within the exclusive economic zone of adjoining countries, and are relatively accessible.

* Relatively shallow, seldom more than 200 m, so generally accessible to ambient pressure diving, though special procedures may be necessary for most offshore diving.
* A small part of inshore coastal waters is shallower than 50 m, making it reasonably easily accessible to divers.
* Most is accessible to surface vessels, ROUVs and AUVs. Very shallow areas of heavy reef may be relatively inaccessible to vehicles of any kind, particularly in high energy zones (heavy swell, surge, surf, tidal and other currents), but may be occasionally be accessible to Lidar.
* Very large in extent.
* Economically and strategically important for navigation.
* Relatively extensively and intensively surveyed. Extent and approximate depths are mostly known. Detailed topography is being systematically surveyed in some places. According to GEBCO data, about 50% of coastal waters were not yet surveyed as of 2019.[5]

### Lakes and rivers

See also: Earth:Limnology and Scientific diving

Wreck of the Audubon in upper Lake Huron

Inland waters. Mostly, but not exclusively fresh water.

The exploration of lakes is done in much the same way as exploration of coastal waters, and is often simplified by relatively small water movement, and shallow depths, though depths can easily extend beyond the range for ambient pressure diving. Visibility ranges between the best, nearing the theoretical maximum for water, and the worst, effectively zero, or measurable in millimeters.

Rivers have the complication of flow, which can range from sluggish to rapid and extremely turbulent, but are relatively shallow.

Many lakes and rivers are relatively easily accessible, others are in inaccessible places.

### Caves

A cave diver running a reel with guide line into the overhead environment

The underwater environment in flooded caves is a relatively difficult and dangerous environment for exploration. There is a lack of natural light, limited line of sight, a general lack of free surface, and often very restricted space. The water can also be quite deep, and may have a strong flow. Cave-diving is underwater diving in fresh or seawater-filled caves. It may be done as an extreme sport, a way of exploring flooded caves for scientific investigation, or for the search for and recovery of other cave users. The equipment used varies depending on the circumstances, and ranges from breath hold to surface supplied, but almost all cave-diving is done using scuba equipment which gives the diver greater range and autonomy, but with a limited breathing gas supply, often in specialised configurations with redundancies such as sidemount or backmounted twinset. Remotely operated vehicles and autonomous underwater vehicles are also used for the exploration of flooded caves, as they do not risk human life and have a far greater operating depth range.[8]

Underwater cave mapping is complicated by both a lack of access to the surface for GPS positions, darkness, with short line-of-sight, and limited visibility, which complicate optical measurement. Altitude/depth is relatively simple as accurate depth measurement is available to divers in the form of decompression computers, which log a depth/time record of reasonable accuracy and are available for instantaneous readout at any point, and depth can be referenced to the altitude at the surface. Vertical dimensions can be directly measured or calculated as differences in depth.[8]

Surface coordinates can be collected via GPS and remote sensing, with varying degrees of precision and accuracy depending on the type of entrance. In some caves the water surface is in view of GPS satellites, in others it is a considerable distance along a complex route from the nearest open air. Three dimensional models of varying accuracy and detail can be created by processing measurements collected by whatever methods were available. These can be used in virtual reality models. The usual methods for survey and mapping of underwater caves are dead reckoning and direct measurements of distance, compass direction and depth, by diving teams of two or three scuba divers, who record azimuth of the cave line, measurements of height, width, depth, and slope at intervals along the line, generally using a permanent guide line as a reference baseline, and take photographic records of features and objects of interest. Data are collected on wet-notes and by digital photography.[8] Where the depth or other constraints prevent divers from exploring in person, tethered and untethered remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROUVs) have been used effectively, using sonar technology to scan and map the surroundings, and video to record the appearance.

Features, artifacts, remains, and other objects of interest are recorded in situ as effectively as possible, generally by photography.[8]

## Modes of exploration

Unknown or poorly known parts of the underwater environment may be explored directly by human observers, or measured and recorded by instruments. Direct measurements and remote measurements are used to suit circumstances. Direct observation is often used investigating new territory, and it is not yet known what to expect, or what instrumentation may be most useful, while remote measurements tend to be faster and where possible, produce useful results sooner and at lower cost, but are more limited in what they can observe.

### Direct measurements

Direct measurements and observations of underwater objects and water properties may be done from a surface platform, by instruments deployed from a surface platform, by divers, from crewed submersibles, ROUVs, or AUVs. Direct observation is mostly used when remote observation is impracticable, impossible, or when accuracy requirements dictate. Most water properties other than velocity and surface temperature, such as temperature at depth, salinity, density, transparency, solute composition and particulate load require direct measurement, which may be done in situ or by recovering samples and testing them in the laboratory.

* Buoys
* Water column samplers
* bottom samplers
* Biological specimen collection and recording

#### Surface platforms

See also: Earth:Research vessel and Diving support vessel

Surface platforms are commonly used as a base on which to mount, or from which to deploy instrumentation, which may be immediately recovered, or left to record data and recovered later.

#### Underwater diving

Divers are limited in mobility and range, and very limited by depth, but can interact directly with the environment which gives them great flexibility and precision of interaction, but are not inherently efficient for precise measurement of the broader environment, for which they need tools and recording equipment. Exploration by divers generally falls into two main categories: Exploration of flooded caves by dedicated cave divers, who map their progress and survey the caves, generally exploring in the meaning of seeking knowledge in places where it is not available by other means, and exploration of recreational dive sites, as a personal entertainment of visiting places not known to themselves and wandering around in the hope of serendipitous discovery. There are also a few recreational divers who systematically investigate and sometimes survey relatively unknown areas.[11][12]

#### Crewed submersibles

Main article: Engineering:Submersible

Crewed submersibles have a much larger depth and lateral range than divers, but are less dexterous at precision manipulation and handling delicate materials and organisms. The presence of an operator with a direct view of the environment makes them logistically flexible, and plans can be changed on the fly to take advantage of serendipitous discoveries. Crewed submersibles allow personal exploration of otherwise inaccessible ocean depths, and can perform a variety of observation, sampling and measurement tasks.

#### Remotely operated and autonomous underwater vehicles

An autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is a robot that travels underwater without requiring continuous input from an operator. AUVs constitute part of a larger group of undersea systems known as unmanned underwater vehicles, a classification that includes non-autonomous remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROVs) - controlled and powered from the surface by an operator/pilot via an umbilical or using remote control. Underwater gliders are a subclass of AUVs.

A remotely operated underwater vehicle (technically ROUV or just ROV) is a (usually) tethered underwater mobile device, that is unoccupied, usually highly maneuverable, and operated by a crew, either aboard a support vessel, floating platform or on proximate land. They are generally, but not necessarily, linked to a host ship by a neutrally buoyant tether or, often when working in rough conditions or in deeper water, a load-carrying umbilical cable is used along with a tether management system (TMS). The TMS is either a garage-like device which contains the ROV during lowering through the splash zone or, on larger work-class ROVs, a separate assembly mounted on top of the ROV. The purpose of the TMS is to lengthen and shorten the tether so the effect of cable drag where there are underwater currents is minimized. The umbilical cable is an armored cable that contains a group of electrical conductors and fiber optics that carry electric power, video, and data signals between the operator and the TMS. Where used, the TMS then relays the signals and power for the ROV down the tether cable. Once at the ROV, the electric power is distributed between the components of the ROV. In high-power applications, most of the electric power drives a high-power electric motor which drives a hydraulic pump. The hydraulic system is then used for propulsion and to power equipment such as torque tools and manipulator arms where electric motors would be too difficult to implement underwater. Most ROVs are equipped with at least a video camera and lights. Additional equipment is commonly added to expand the vehicle's capabilities. These may include sonars, magnetometers, a still camera, a manipulator or cutting arm, water samplers, and instruments that measure water clarity, water temperature, water density, sound velocity, light penetration, and temperature.

### Remote sensing

See also: Earth:Remote sensing

Remote sensing is usually more efficient for tasks covering large areas, such as bottom surface profiling, reflection seismology or measuring sea surface temperature over wide areas, and is generally used where the technology is available. Remote sensing is usually automated to some extent, and signal processing and data storage and analysis may also be automated. The remote sensing platform is often a surface vessel, but may also be a crewed submersible, ROV, AUV, aircraft of satellite. On occasion remote sensors have been carried by divers.

#### Techniques and technologies

Water depth measurable by lidar depends on the clarity of the water and the absorption of the wavelength used. Water is most transparent to green and blue light, so these will penetrate deepest in clean water.[13] Blue-green light of 532 nm produced by frequency doubled solid-state IR laser output is the standard for airborne bathymetry. This light can penetrate water but pulse strength attenuates exponentially with distance traveled through the water.[14] The surface reflection makes water shallower than about 0.9 m difficult to resolve, and absorption limits the maximum depth. Turbidity causes scattering and has a signifincant role in determining the maximum depth that can be resolved in most situations, and dissolved pigments can increase absorption depending on wavelength.[13] Bathymetric lidar is most useful in the 0 to 10 m depth range in coastal mapping.[14] On average in fairly clear coastal seawater lidar can penetrate to about 7 m, and in turbid water up to about 3 m. An average value is for the green laser light to penetrate water about 1.5 to 2 times Secchi depth. Water temperature and salinity have an effect on the refractive index which has a small effect on the depth calculation.[15]

The ICESat-2 satellite has a laser altimeter intended for measuring the height of ice, but it was found that underwater reflections were also being recorded along shallow coastal zones. This has allowed areas where it is too shallow for most vessels to safely access to be bathymetrically mapped. The potential depth that ICESat-2's Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System (ATLASA) can reach is 38 m in optimum conditions.[16]

A magnetometer is an instrument that measures magnetic field or magnetic dipole moment. They are widely used for measuring the Earth's magnetic field, in geophysical surveys, to detect magnetic anomalies of various types, and to find iron and steel shipwrecks. [17]

Radar altimetry measures altitude above the terrain beneath an aircraft or spacecraft by timing how long it takes radio waves to travel to ground, reflect, and return to the craft. This type of altimeter provides the distance between the antenna and the ground or water surface directly below it. The variation of height of the sea surface can be interpreted to provide information on the profile of the seabed and information on the water above it.[18][19]

Seismic reflection data

Reflection seismology uses the principles of seismology to estimate the properties of the Earth's subsurface from reflected seismic waves, which are mechanical waves of low frequency acoustic energy. The method requires a controlled seismic source of energy, such as a specialized air gun or a seismic vibrator. Reflection seismology is similar in principle to sonar, but is useful in seabed structure where sonar frequencies cannot penetrate.[20] Passive seismology can detect phenomena from tectonic movement to variation in wave strength in the open ocean.[21]

Gravimetry is the measurement of the strength of a gravitational field. Gravimetry may be used when either the magnitude of a gravitational field or the properties of matter responsible for its creation are of interest. Gravimetric data have been found particularly useful for planning higher resolution sonar surveys.[22][19]

Sonar is the most effective technology for underwater surveying, as sound propagates through water with less loss than electromagnetic energy, reflects well at a phase interface, can be produced at a wide range of frequencies with varying applications, and can be directionally focused with some precision, but the transducers must be in the water – sound does not propagate well through a gas-liquid or liquid-solid interface. Three main applications are used: single beam echo sounding is generally used for depth measurement below the vessel, side-scan sonar produces images showing the shape of underwater objects well, but is not very accurate for depth measurement, and multibeam echosounders provide fairly accurate three dimensional positions for a swath of points spread across the track of the transducer array.[23][24]

Underwater photography, including photogrammetry and underwater videography.[25][26]

### Platforms

Undersea exploration is usually conducted from a platform, such as a ship, buoy, aircraft, or satellite. A seaborne surface platform may be used as a base to deploy divers, crewed submersibles ROUVs and AUVs, or may be directly equipped with remote sensors. Aircraft and satellites may carry remote senors with a longer range and wider view.[2]

## Discoveries

Scientists estimate that the ocean contains between 700,000 and 1 million living species (excluding most microorganisms, of which there are estimated to be millions more), most of which are yet to be found and described.[27]

## History

The 1872–76 Challenger expedition was the first major multidisciplinary undersea survey, which had the primary goal of discovering deep-sea life using dredging and nets, and also made physical, oceanographic, and chemical measurements of the oceanic environment.[2]

Work on mapping the ocean bed accelerated after World War II, when sonar technology made faster depth measurement possible.[28]

The first comprehensive map of the world ocean bottom was published in 1977 by geologists Marie Tharp and Bruce Heezen of Lamont Geological Laboratory at Columbia University in New York, in a collaboration that lasted from the 1950s into the 1970s.[29] In the 1980s, William Haxby used satellite measurements to provide more information, using gravity field data to provide a low resolution map of the global seafloor.[30]

The mass distribution of the seabed topography affects the local gravity sufficiently for satellite radar altimetry to record variations of sea surface height, which can be used to calculate the approximate underwater geomorphology. The map created in 2014 using this data revealed large numbers of previously unknown seamounts, and has roughly twice the resolution of the previous map created 20 years earlier. Data was used from the European Space Agency's (ESA) CryoSat-2 satellite and NASA's Jason-1 satellite.[31][22]

The First World Ocean Assessment of 2015 showed that the ocean is important for the climate and support of life on the whole planet, and that critical ocean systems are under threat, making the exploration and mapping of the ocean a key environmental goal to facilitate understanding of the dynamics of ocean systems and the changes that are occurring.[28]

By 2017 only about 6% of the ocean floor had been mapped. The United Nations Ocean Conference of that year challenged nations to complete that map and by 2020 the coverage had increased to about 20%.[28]

In June 2022, the US formally joined the Seabed 2030 project, along with a number of other countries. At that time 23.4% of the seabed had been mapped, which included an increase of 10.1 million square kilometers of new bathymetric data from 2022, contributed by a diverse group of participants, including national governments, private companies, academic institutions and philanthropic partners.[32]

## Organisations, programs and projects

* Global initiatives.
* An international collaboration between the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO) and the Nippon Foundation (NF), to collect all available bathymetric data to produce a definitive map of the world ocean floor by 2030, called the Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project, was launched at the United Nations Ocean Conference in New York on 6 June 2017. It is aligned with the UN's Sustainable Development Goal#14 to conserve and make sustainable use of marine resources and the oceans.[6] Seabed 2030 is gathering depth data, identifying the unmapped areas, and working with the ocean mapping community to coordinate cartographic work. It is sponsored by the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC).[6][33]
* United Nations Decade of Ocean Science 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals[33]
* Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change[33]
* Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030[33]
* Crowdsourced data: In 2014 the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) started a project to gather crowdsourced bathymetry from vessels engaged in routine maritime operations and using standard navigation instruments to update and supplement more rigorous scientific bathymetric coverage.[33][6] Most ships have the capacity to measure and digitally record the depth in coastal waters, and some are capable of taking useful measurements in deeper water. These data would be stored in the IHO Data Centre for Digital Bathymetry (DCDB) as received, and the end users would be responsible for deciding if and how to use them.[33][5]
* The Census of Marine Life was a 10-year, US $650 million scientific initiative, involving a global network of researchers in more than 80 nations, engaged to assess and explain the diversity, distribution, and abundance of life in the oceans. The world's first comprehensive Census of Marine Life -- past, present, and future -- was released in 2010 in London.[34] Initially supported by funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the project was successful in generating many times that initial investment in additional support and substantially increased the baselines of knowledge in often underexplored ocean realms, as well as engaging over 2,700 different researchers for the first time in a global collaborative community united in a common goal, and has been described as "one of the largest scientific collaborations ever conducted".[35]
* NOAA Ocean Exploration is a US federal program tasked with exploring the deep ocean.[36]
* Woodville Karst Plain Project
* National Speleological Society Cave Diving Section
* Quintana Roo Speleological Survey

## See also

* Earth:Bathymetry
* Deep-sea exploration - Investigation of ocean conditions beyond the continental shelf
* Earth:General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans - Publicly available bathymetric chart of the world's oceans
* Physics:Oceanography
* Earth:Limnology - Science of inland aquatic ecosystems
* Earth:RISE project - 1979 international marine research project
* Earth:Satellite geodesy
* Earth:Speleology
* Social:Underwater archaeology - Study of human activity via evidence found underwater

## References

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3. ↑ "Why do we explore the ocean?". NOAA. https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/backmatter/whatisexploration.html.
4. ↑ "How much of the ocean have we explored?". https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/exploration.html.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 "IHO Data Centre for Digital Bathymetry (DCDB)". NOAA. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/iho-data-centre-digital-bathymetry.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 "Seabed 2030: Map the Gaps". 29 June 2022. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/seabed-2030-map-gaps.
7. ↑ Orlando, Alex (3 February 2020). "This AI-Guided Drone Has Mapped One of Earth's Deepest Subterranean Lakes". https://www.discovermagazine.com/technology/this-ai-guided-drone-has-mapped-one-of-earths-deepest-subterranean-lakes.
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 Daire, Stephen A. (26 November 2017). ﻿Cave Survey Geodatabase for the Yucatan Peninsula (Quintana Roo, Mexico)﻿ (Report). University of Southern California Dornsife Spatial Sciences Institute. https://www.academia.edu/36872842.
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10. ↑ "Life of the Bottom of the Ocean". http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150129-life-at-the-bottom-of-the-ocean.
11. ↑ Landau, Candice (1 August 2024). "How Underwater Mapping Is Changing the Dive World". Scuba Diving magazine. https://www.scubadiving.com/how-underwater-mapping-changing-dive-world.
12. ↑ McKiernan, Aoife (14 January 2025). "#4 The man of many words....that you've probably read". Maritime Radio. https://open.spotify.com/show/60miI4qrAg3KqiZWHD0OlK?uri=spotify:episode:3c0jK2nP5uOzk1tUI6ZFJb.
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 "1.2.2 Bathymetric LiDAR". http://home.iitk.ac.in/~blohani/LiDAR_Tutorial/Bathymetric LiDAR.htm.
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 "Nayegandhi Green Lidar". https://www.ngs.noaa.gov/corbin/class_description/Nayegandhi_green_lidar.pdf.
15. ↑ Saputra, Romi; Radjawane, Ivonne; Park, H; Gularso, Herjuno (2021). "Effect of Turbidity, Temperature and Salinity of Waters on Depth Data from Airborne LiDAR Bathymetry". IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science 925 (1). doi:10.1088/1755-1315/925/1/012056. Bibcode: 2021E&ES..925a2056S.
16. ↑ Altaweel, Mark (27 April 2020). "Satellite Mapping of Oceans and Coral Reefs". https://www.gislounge.com/satellite-mapping-of-oceans-and-coral-reefs/.
17. ↑ "Magnetometer". NOAA Ocean Exploration. https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/technology/magnetometer/magnetometer.html.
18. ↑ "Radar altimetry revolutionises the study of the ocean". European Space Agency. 15 March 2006. https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/Radar_altimetry_revolutionises_the_study_of_the_ocean.
19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Sandwell, David T.; Smith, Walter H. F. (1997). "Exploring the ocean basins with satellite altimeter data". https://topex.ucsd.edu/marine_grav/explore_grav.html.
20. ↑ Talwani, Manik; Kessinger, Walter (2003). "I Exploration Seismology". in Meyers, Robert A.. Encyclopedia of Physical Science and Technology (Third ed.). Elsevier. ISBN 978-0-12-227410-7.
21. ↑ Aster, Richard (6 November 2023). "How global warming shakes the Earth: Seismic data show ocean waves gaining strength as the planet warms". Conversation Media Group. https://www.preventionweb.net/news/how-global-warming-shakes-earth-seismic-data-show-ocean-waves-gaining-strength-planet-warms.
22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Sandwell, David T.; Müller, R. Dietmar; Smith, Walter H. F.; Garcia, Emmanuel; Francis, Richard (3 Oct 2014). "New global marine gravity model from CryoSat-2 and Jason-1 reveals buried tectonic structure". Science 346 (6205): 65–67. doi:10.1126/science.1258213. PMID 25278606. Bibcode: 2014Sci...346...65S. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1258213.
23. ↑ "Sonar". NOAA Ocean Exploration. https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/technology/sonar/sonar.html.
24. ↑ "Multibeam Sonar". NOAA Ocean Exploration. https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/technology/sonar/multibeam.html.
25. ↑ "Phase IV Summary: Divers Down! Using Digital Imagery to Photogrammetrically Model Deep Shipwrecks". NOAA Ocean Exploration. 10–21 July 2017. https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/17thunderbay/summaries/phase_4/phase_4.html.
26. ↑ "Photogrammetry". NOAA Ocean Exploration. https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/technology/photogrammetry/photogrammetry.html.
27. ↑ "Celebrating 20 Years of NOAA Ocean Exploration". NOAA. https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/20years/biology.html.
28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 28.2 Altaweel, Mark (21 July 2020). "How Geospatial Technologies are Helping to Complete the Effort to Map the World's Ocean Floor". https://www.gislounge.com/how-geospatial-technologies-to-complete-the-effort-to-map-the-worlds-ocean-floor/.
29. ↑ Maxwell, Rebecca (17 October 2013). "Marie Tharp and Mapping the Ocean Floor". https://www.gislounge.com/marie-tharp-and-mapping-ocean-floor/.
30. ↑ "Google Ocean maps dive deep". 13 June 2011. https://earthsky.org/earth/google-ocean-maps-dive-deep/.
31. ↑ Dempsey, Caitlin (6 October 2014). "New Detailed Map of the Ocean Floor". https://www.gislounge.com/new-detailed-map-ocean-floor/.
32. ↑ "Seabed 2030: NOAA formally joins international effort to map the gaps in our ocean knowledge". 29 June 2022. https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/news/jun22/seabed-2030.html.
33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 33.2 33.3 33.4 33.5 "The Power of the Crowd: Working Together to Map Our Waters". NOAA. 14 June 2017. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/power-crowd.
34. ↑ "2010 Census of Marine Life News Release, 23 September 2010". coml.org. 23 September 2010. http://www.coml.org/pressreleases/census2010/PDF/Census-2010_Public_News_Release.pdf.
35. ↑ Konkiel, Stacy (2010-10-07). "Census of Marine Life Launches in London". everyone.plos.org. https://everyone.plos.org/2010/10/07/census-of-marine-life-launches-in-london/.
36. ↑ "About NOAA Ocean Exploration". NOAA. https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/about/welcome.html.

## External links

* GEBCO Data and products

* v
* t
* e

Underwater diving

* Diving modes
* Atmospheric pressure diving
* Freediving
* Saturation diving
* Scuba diving
* Snorkeling
* Surface-supplied diving
* Unmanned diving

Diving equipment

| Basic equipment|

* Diving mask
* Snorkel
* Swimfin

|

Breathing gas|

* Bailout gas
* Bottom gas
* Breathing air
* Decompression gas
* Emergency gas supply
* Heliox
* Nitrox
* Oxygen
* Travel gas
* Trimix

Buoyancy and
trim equipment|

* Buoyancy control device
* Power inflator
* Dump valve
* Diving weighting system
* Ankle weights
* Integrated weights
* Trim weights
* Weight belt

Decompression
equipment|

* Decompression buoy
* Decompression cylinder
* Decompression trapeze
* Dive computer
* Diving shot
* Jonline

Environmental
protection|

* Atmospheric diving suit
* Diving suit
* Dry suit
* Sladen suit
* Standard diving suit
* Rash vest
* Wetsuit
* Dive skins
* Hot-water suit

Helmets
and masks|

* Anti-fog
* Diving helmet
* Free-flow helmet
* Lightweight demand helmet
* Reclaim helmet
* Standard diving helmet
* Diving mask
* Band mask
* Half mask
* Full-face mask

Instrumentation|

* Bottom timer
* Depth gauge
* Dive computer
* Dive timer
* Diving compass
* Diving watch
* Pneumofathometer
* Submersible pressure gauge

Mobility
equipment|

* Diving bell
* Closed bell
* Wet bell
* Diving stage
* Diver propulsion vehicle
* Advanced SEAL Delivery System
* Cosmos CE2F series
* Dry Combat Submersible
* Human torpedo
* Motorised Submersible Canoe
* R-2 Mala-class swimmer delivery vehicle
* SEAL Delivery Vehicle
* Shallow Water Combat Submersible
* Siluro San Bartolomeo
* Wet Nellie
* Wet sub
* Necker Nymph
* Swimfins
* Monofin
* Towboard

Safety
equipment|

* Alternative air source
* Bailout block
* Bailout bottle
* Bolt snap
* Buddy line
* Distance line
* Dive light
* Dive reel
* Diver's cutting tool
* Diver's knife
* Diver's telephone
* Through-water communications
* Diving bell
* Diving safety harness
* Emergency gas supply
* Lifeline
* Screw gate carabiner
* Line marker
* Octopus regulator
* Pony bottle
* Rescue tether
* Safety helmet
* Shark-proof cage
* Surface marker buoy
* Personal locator beacon

Underwater
breathing
apparatus|

* Atmospheric diving suit
* Diving cylinder
* Burst disc
* Diving cylinder valve
* Diving helmet
* Diving regulator
* Single-hose regulator
* Twin-hose regulator
* Regulator malfunction
* Regulator freeze
* Full face diving mask
* Reclaim helmet
* Open-circuit scuba
* Scuba set
* Bailout bottle
* Decompression cylinder
* Independent doubles
* Manifolded twin set
* Scuba manifold
* Pony bottle
* Sidemount
* Sling cylinder
* Scuba replacement
* Standard diving dress
* Diving rebreather
* Carbon dioxide scrubber
* Carleton CDBA
* CDLSE
* Cis-Lunar
* Cryogenic rebreather
* CUMA
* DSEA
* Dolphin
* Electro-galvanic oxygen sensor
* FROGS
* Halcyon PVR-BASC
* Halcyon RB80
* IDA71
* Interspiro DCSC
* KISS
* LAR-5
* LAR-6
* LAR-V
* LARU
* Porpoise
* Dräger Ray
* Siebe Gorman CDBA
* Siva
* Viper
* Surface-supplied diving equipment
* Air line
* Diver's umbilical
* Diving air compressor
* Hookah
* Sea Trek
* Snuba
* Standard diving dress

Diving
equipment
manufacturers|

* AP Diving
* Apeks
* Aqua Lung America
* Aqua Lung/La Spirotechnique
* Beuchat
* René Cavalero
* Cressi-Sub
* Dacor
* DESCO
* Dive Xtras
* Divex
* Diving Unlimited International
* Drägerwerk
* Fenzy
* Maurice Fernez
* Technisub
* Oscar Gugen
* Heinke
* HeinrichsWeikamp
* Johnson Outdoors
* Mares
* Morse Diving
* Nemrod
* Oceanic Worldwide
* Porpoise
* Sub Sea Systems
* Shearwater Research
* Siebe Gorman
* Submarine Products
* Suunto

Diving support equipment

| Breathing gas|

* Air filtration
* Booster pump
* Carbon dioxide scrubber
* Cascade filling system
* Diver's pump
* Diving air compressor
* Diving air filter
* High pressure breathing air compressor
* Low pressure breathing air compressor
* Gas blending
* Gas blending for scuba diving
* Gas panel
* Gas reclaim system
* Gas storage bank
* Gas storage quad
* Gas storage tube
* Helium analyzer
* Nitrox production
* Membrane method of gas concentration
* Pressure swing adsorption
* Oxygen analyser
* Oxygen compatibility

|

Decompression
equipment|

* Built-in breathing system
* Decompression tables
* Dive computer
* Diving bell
* Bell cursor
* Closed bell
* Clump weight
* Launch and recovery system
* Wet bell
* Diving chamber
* Diving stage
* Jersey upline
* Recreational Dive Planner
* Saturation system

Platforms|

* Dive boat
* Boarding stirrup
* Canoe and kayak diving
* Combat Rubber Raiding Craft
* Diving platform (scuba)
* Liveaboard
* Subskimmer
* Diving support vessel
* HMS Challenger (K07)
* Moon pool
* Underwater habitat
* Aquarius Reef Base
* Continental Shelf Station Two
* Helgoland Habitat
* Jules' Undersea Lodge
* Scott Carpenter Space Analog Station
* SEALAB
* Tektite habitat

Remotely operated
underwater vehicles|

* 8A4-class ROUV
* ABISMO
* Atlantis ROV Team
* CURV
* Épaulard
* Global Explorer ROV
* Goldfish-class ROUV
* Kaikō ROV
* Long-Term Mine Reconnaissance System
* Mini Rover ROV
* OpenROV
* ROV KIEL 6000
* ROV PHOCA
* Scorpio ROV
* Sea Dragon-class ROV
* Seabed tractor
* Seafox drone
* Seahorse ROUV
* SeaPerch
* SJT-class ROUV
* T1200 Trenching Unit
* VideoRay UROVs

Safety equipment|

* Diver down flag
* Diving shot
* Hyperbaric lifeboat
* Hyperbaric stretcher
* Jackstay
* Jonline
* Reserve gas supply

General|

* Diving ladder
* Hot water system
* Downline

Freediving

| Activities|

* Aquathlon
* Apnoea finswimming
* Freediving
* Haenyeo
* Pearl hunting
* Ama
* Snorkeling
* Spearfishing
* Underwater football
* Underwater hockey
* Underwater ice hockey
* Underwater rugby
* Underwater target shooting

|

Competitions|

* Nordic Deep
* Vertical Blue
* Disciplines
* Constant weight (CWT)
* Constant weight without fins (CNF)
* Dynamic apnea (DYN)
* Dynamic apnea without fins (DNF)
* Free immersion (FIM)
* No-limits apnea (NLT)
* Static apnea (STA)
* Skandalopetra diving
* Variable weight apnea (VWT)
* Variable weight apnea without fins

Equipment|

* Diving mask
* Diving suit
* Fins
* Hawaiian sling
* Monofin
* Polespear
* Snorkel (swimming)
* Speargun
* Water polo cap

Freedivers|

* Deborah Andollo
* Peppo Biscarini
* Sara Campbell
* Derya Can Göçen
* Goran Čolak
* Carlos Coste
* Robert Croft
* Mandy-Rae Cruickshank
* Yasemin Dalkılıç
* Leonardo D'Imporzano
* Flavia Eberhard
* Şahika Ercümen
* Emma Farrell
* Francisco Ferreras
* Pierre Frolla
* Flavia Eberhard
* Mehgan Heaney-Grier
* Elisabeth Kristoffersen
* Loïc Leferme
* Enzo Maiorca
* Jacques Mayol
* Audrey Mestre
* Karol Meyer
* Stéphane Mifsud
* Alexey Molchanov
* Natalia Molchanova
* Dave Mullins
* Patrick Musimu
* Guillaume Néry
* Herbert Nitsch
* Umberto Pelizzari
* Annelie Pompe
* Michal Risian
* Stig Severinsen
* Tom Sietas
* Aharon Solomons
* Martin Štěpánek
* Walter Steyn
* Tanya Streeter
* William Trubridge
* Devrim Cenk Ulusoy
* Danai Varveri
* Alessia Zecchini
* Nataliia Zharkova

Hazards|

* Barotrauma
* Drowning
* Freediving blackout
* Deep-water blackout
* Shallow-water blackout
* Hypercapnia
* Hypothermia

Historical|

* Ama
* Octopus wrestling
* Swimming at the 1900 Summer Olympics – Men's underwater swimming

Organisations|

* AIDA International
* Scuba Schools International
* Australian Underwater Federation
* British Freediving Association
* Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques
* Fédération Française d'Études et de Sports Sous-Marins
* Performance Freediving International

Professional diving

| Occupations|

* Ama
* Commercial diving
* Commercial offshore diving
* Hazmat diving
* Divemaster
* Diving instructor
* Diving safety officer
* Diving supervisor
* Haenyeo
* Media diving
* Underwater photography
* Underwater videography
* Military diving
* Army engineer diver
* Clearance diver
* Frogman
* Police diving
* Public safety diving
* Scientific diving
* Underwater archaeology

|

Underwater work|

* Commercial offshore diving
* Dive guide
* Diver training
* Recreational diver training
* Hyperbaric welding
* Nondestructive testing
* Pearl hunting
* Police diving
* Public safety diving
* Salvage diving
* Scientific diving
* Sponge diving
* Submarine pipeline
* Underwater archaeology
* Underwater demolition
* Underwater photography
* Underwater search and recovery
* Underwater videography

Tools & equipment|

* Abrasive waterjet
* Airlift
* In-water surface cleaning
* Brush cart
* Cavitation cleaning
* Pressure washing
* Lifting bag
* Remotely operated underwater vehicle
* Silt screw
* Snoopy loop
* Thermal lance
* Tremie
* Water jetting

Underwater
weapons|

* Limpet mine
* Speargun
* Hawaiian sling
* Polespear

| Underwater
firearm|

* Gyrojet
* Mk 1 Underwater Defense Gun
* Powerhead
* Underwater pistols
* Heckler & Koch P11
* SPP-1 underwater pistol
* Underwater revolvers
* AAI underwater revolver
* Underwater rifles
* ADS amphibious rifle
* APS underwater rifle
* ASM-DT amphibious rifle

|

Recreational diving

| Specialties|

* Altitude diving
* Cave diving
* Deep diving
* Ice diving
* Muck diving
* Open-water diving
* Rebreather diving
* Sidemount diving
* Solo diving
* Technical diving
* Wreck diving

|

Diver
organisations|

* British Sub-Aqua Club (BSAC)
* Cave Divers Association of Australia (CDAA)
* Cave Diving Group (CDG)
* Comhairle Fo-Thuinn (CFT)
* Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques (CMAS)
* Federación Española de Actividades Subacuáticas (FEDAS)
* Fédération Française d'Études et de Sports Sous-Marins (FFESSM)
* International Association for Handicapped Divers (IAHD)
* National Association for Cave Diving (NACD)
* Woodville Karst Plain Project (WKPP)

Diving tourism
industry|

* Environmental impact of recreational diving
* Scuba diving tourism
* Shark tourism
* Sinking ships for wreck diving sites

Recreational
dive sites|

| Reef diving
regions|

* Arrecifes de Cozumel National Park
* Great Barrier Reef
* iSimangaliso Marine Protected Area
* Poor Knights Islands
* Table Mountain National Park Marine Protected Area

|

Reef dive
sites|

* Artificial reef
* Gibraltar Artificial Reef
* Shark River Reef
* Osborne Reef
* Palancar Reef
* Underwater artworks
* Cancún Underwater Museum
* Christ of the Abyss
* The Diver
* Molinere Underwater Sculpture Park

Wreck diving
regions|

* Chuuk Lagoon
* Maritime Heritage Trail – Battle of Saipan
* Whitefish Point Underwater Preserve
* Wreck Alley, San Diego

Wreck dive
sites|

* HMS A1
* HMS A3
* Engineering:USS Aaron Ward
* Abessinia
* Aeolian Sky
* Albert C. Field
* Andrea Doria
* Antilla
* Antilles
* Aquila
* Engineering:USS Arkansas
* HMS Boadicea
* Bianca C.
* Booya
* HMSAS Bloemfontein
* Breda
* HMAS Brisbane
* Bungsberg
* HMAS Canberra
* Carl D. Bradley
* Carnatic
* SMS Dresden
* Dunraven
* Eastfield
* HMT Elk
* Ellengowan
* RMS Empress of Ireland
* HMS Falmouth
* Fifi
* SS Francisco Morazan
* Fujikawa Maru
* Fumizuki
* SATS General Botha
* USNS General Hoyt S. Vandenberg
* HMS Ghurka
* Glen Strathallan
* SAS Good Hope
* Gothenburg
* Herzogin Cecilie
* Hilma Hooker
* Hispania
* HMS Hood
* HMAS Hobart
* Igara
* James Eagan Layne
* Captain Keith Tibbetts
* King Cruiser
* SMS Kronprinz
* Kyarra
* HMS Laforey
* USAT Liberty
* Louis Sheid
* Engineering:USS LST-507
* SMS Markgraf
* Mikhail Lermontov
* HMS M2
* Maine
* Maloja
* HMS Maori
* Marguerite
* SS Mauna Loa
* USAT Meigs
* Mendi
* USCGC Mohawk
* Mohegan
* RMS Moldavia
* HMS Montagu
* MV RMS Mulheim
* Nagato
* Oceana
* Engineering:USS Oriskany
* Oslofjord
* P29
* P31
* Pedernales
* Persier
* HMAS Perth
* SAS Pietermaritzburg
* Piłsudski
* Pool Fisher
* HMS Port Napier
* Preußen
* President Coolidge
* PS Queen Victoria
* Radaas
* Error: {{Ship}} missing prefix (help)
* RMS Rhone
* Rondo
* Rosehill
* Error: {{Ship}} missing prefix (help)
* Royal Charter
* Rozi
* HMS Safari
* Salem Express
* Engineering:USS Saratoga
* Engineering:USS Scuffle
* HMS Scylla
* HMS Sidon
* Engineering:USS Spiegel Grove
* Stanegarth
* Stanwood
* Stella
* HMAS Swan
* Engineering:USS Tarpon
* Thesis
* Thistlegorm
* Toa Maru
* Torrey Canyon
* SAS Transvaal
* Tulagi
* Tulamben
* U-40
* U-352
* U-1195
* Um El Faroud
* Varvassi
* Walter L M Russ
* Washingtonian (1913)
* HMNZS Wellington
* Engineering:USS Yancey
* Yongala
* Zenobia
* Zealandia
* Zingara

Cave diving
sites|

* Devil's Throat at Punta Sur
* Engelbrecht
* Fossil Cave
* Piccaninnie Ponds
* Pollatoomary
* Sistema Ox Bel Ha
* Sistema Sac Actun
* Sistema Dos Ojos
* Sistema Nohoch Nah Chich

Freshwater
dives|

* Ewens Ponds
* Little Blue Lake

Training sites|

* Capernwray Dive Centre
* National Diving and Activity Centre
* Stoney Cove

Open ocean
diving|

* Blue-water diving
* Black-water diving

Diving safety

* Ergonomics of diving equipment
* Human factors in diving safety
* Life support system
* Safety-critical system

| Diving hazards|

* Trait anxiety
* Cold shock response
* Decompression
* List of diving hazards and precautions
* Nitrogen narcosis
* Overconfidence effect
* Oxygen toxicity
* Panic
* Penetration diving
* Seasickness
* Silt out
* Single point of failure
* Task loading
* Uncontrolled decompression

|

Consequences|

* Barotrauma
* Decompression sickness
* Drowning
* Hypothermia
* Hypoxia
* Hypercapnia
* Hypothermia

Risk
management|

* Checklist
* Hazard identification and risk assessment
* Hazard analysis
* Job safety analysis
* Risk assessment
* Risk control
* Hierarchy of hazard controls
* Incident pit
* Lockout-tagout
* Permit To Work
* Redundancy
* Safety data sheet
* Situation awareness
* Diving team
* Bellman
* Chamber operator
* Diver's attendant
* Diving supervisor
* Diving systems technician
* Life support technician
* Stand-by diver
* Equipment safety
* Breathing gas quality
* Testing and inspection of diving cylinders
* Hydrostatic test
* Sustained load cracking
* Diving regulators
* Breathing performance of regulators
* Occupational safety and health
* Approaches to safety
* Job safety analysis
* Risk assessment
* Toolbox talk
* Housekeeping
* Association of Diving Contractors International
* Code of practice
* Contingency plan
* Diving regulations
* Emergency procedure
* Emergency response plan
* Evacuation plan
* Hazardous Materials Identification System
* Hierarchy of hazard controls
* Administrative controls
* Engineering controls
* Hazard elimination
* Hazard substitution
* Personal protective equipment
* International Marine Contractors Association
* Occupational hazard
* Biological hazard
* Chemical hazard
* Physical hazard
* Psychosocial hazard
* Occupational hygiene
* Exposure assessment
* Occupational exposure limit
* Workplace health surveillance
* Safety culture
* Code of practice
* Health and safety representative
* Operations manual
* Safety meeting
* Standard operating procedure

Diving
procedures|

* Ascending and descending
* Emergency ascent
* Boat diving
* Canoe and kayak diving
* Buddy diving
* Decompression
* Decompression practice
* Pyle stop
* Ratio decompression
* Dive briefing
* Dive log
* Dive planning
* Scuba gas planning
* Diver communications
* Diving hand signals
* Diving line signals
* Diver voice communications
* Diver rescue
* Diver training
* Doing It Right
* Drift diving
* Gas blending for scuba diving
* Night diving
* Solo diving
* Water safety

Incidents|

| Diver rescues|

* Tham Luang cave rescue

|

Early diving|

* John Day (carpenter)
* Charles Spalding
* Ebenezer Watson

Freediving|

* Loïc Leferme
* Audrey Mestre
* Nicholas Mevoli
* Natalia Molchanova

Professional
diving|

* Johnson Sea Link accident
* Offshore diving incidents
* Byford Dolphin diving bell accident
* Drill Master diving accident
* Star Canopus diving accident
* Venture One diving accident
* Waage Drill II diving accident
* Wildrake diving accident
* Professional diver fatalities
* Roger Baldwin
* John Bennett
* Victor F. Guiel Jr.
* Craig M. Hoffman
* Peter Henry Michael Holmes
* Edwin Clayton Link
* Gerard Anthony Prangley
* Pier Skipness
* Robert John Smyth
* Albert D. Stover
* Richard A. Walker
* Lothar Michael Ward
* Joachim Wendler
* Death of Bradley Westell
* Arne Zetterström

Scuba diving
fatalities|

* Ricardo Armbruster
* Allan Bridge
* David Bright
* Berry L. Cannon
* Cotton Coulson
* Cláudio Coutinho
* E. Yale Dawson
* Deon Dreyer
* Milan Dufek
* Sheck Exley
* Maurice Fargues
* Guy Garman
* Steve Irwin
* Jim Jones
* Henry Way Kendall
* Artur Kozłowski
* Chris and Chrissy Rouse
* Kirsty MacColl
* Agnes Milowka
* François de Roubaix
* Dave Shaw
* Wesley C. Skiles
* Dewey Smith
* Rob Stewart
* Esbjörn Svensson
* Josef Velek

Diving medicine

| Diving
disorders|

* List of signs and symptoms of diving disorders
* Cramps
* Motion sickness
* Surfer's ear

| Pressure
related|

* Aerosinusitis
* Air embolism
* Alternobaric vertigo
* Barodontalgia
* Barostriction
* Barotrauma
* Compression arthralgia
* Decompression illness
* Dental barotrauma
* Dysbarism
* Pulmonary barotrauma

| Oxygen|

* Freediving blackout
* Hyperoxia
* Hypoxia
* Oxygen toxicity

|

Inert gases|

* Avascular necrosis
* Decompression sickness
* Isobaric counterdiffusion
* Taravana
* Dysbaric osteonecrosis
* High-pressure nervous syndrome
* Hydrogen narcosis
* Nitrogen narcosis

Carbon dioxide|

* Hypercapnia
* Hypocapnia

Breathing gas
contaminants|

* Carbon monoxide poisoning

Immersion
related|

* Asphyxia
* Drowning
* Hypothermia
* Immersion diuresis
* Instinctive drowning response
* Laryngospasm
* Salt water aspiration syndrome
* Swimming-induced pulmonary edema

Treatment|

* Demand valve oxygen therapy
* First Aid
* Hyperbaric medicine
* Hyperbaric treatment schedules
* In-water recompression
* Oxygen therapy
* Therapeutic recompression

Personnel|

* Diving Medical Examiner
* Diving Medical Practitioner
* Diving Medical Technician
* Hyperbaric nursing

Screening|

* Atrial septal defect
* Fitness to dive
* Psychological fitness to dive

Research|

| Researchers in
diving physiology
and medicine|

* Arthur J. Bachrach
* Albert R. Behnke
* Paul Bert
* George F. Bond
* Robert Boyle
* Albert A. Bühlmann
* John R. Clarke
* Guybon Chesney Castell Damant
* William Paul Fife
* John Scott Haldane
* Robert William Hamilton Jr.
* Leonard Erskine Hill
* Brian Andrew Hills
* Felix Hoppe-Seyler
* Christian J. Lambertsen
* Simon Mitchell
* Charles Momsen
* John Rawlins R.N.
* Charles Wesley Shilling
* Edward D. Thalmann
* Jacques Triger

|

Diving medical
research
organisations|

* Aerospace Medical Association
* Divers Alert Network (DAN)
* Diving Diseases Research Centre (DDRC)
* Diving Medical Advisory Council (DMAC)
* European Diving Technology Committee (EDTC)
* European Underwater and Baromedical Society (EUBS)
* National Board of Diving and Hyperbaric Medical Technology
* Naval Submarine Medical Research Laboratory
* Royal Australian Navy School of Underwater Medicine
* Rubicon Foundation
* South Pacific Underwater Medicine Society (SPUMS)
* Southern African Underwater and Hyperbaric Medical Association (SAUHMA)
* Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society (UHMS)
* United States Navy Experimental Diving Unit (NEDU)

Law

* Civil liability in recreational diving
* Duty of care
* List of legislation regulating underwater diving
* Investigation of diving accidents

History of underwater diving

* Aqua-Lung
* History of decompression research and development
* History of scuba diving
* List of researchers in underwater diving
* Porpoise regulator
* Standard diving dress
* Timeline of diving technology
* Underwater diving in popular culture
* Vintage scuba

Publications

| Manuals|

* NOAA Diving Manual
* U.S. Navy Diving Manual
* Basic Cave Diving: A Blueprint for Survival

|

Standards and
Codes of Practice|

* DIN 7876

General non-fiction|

* The Darkness Beckons
* Goldfinder
* The Last Dive
* Shadow Divers

Training and registration

| Diver
training|

* Diving instructor
* Diving school
* Occupational diver training
* Commercial diver training
* Military diver training
* Public safety diver training
* Scientific diver training
* Competence and assessment
* Competency-based learning
* Skill assessment
* Refresher training (diving)
* Diver training standard
* Recreational diver training
* Introductory diving
* Skills
* Diver navigation
* Diver trim
* Ear clearing
* Frenzel maneuver
* Valsalva maneuver
* Finning techniques
* Scuba skills
* Buddy breathing
* Low impact diving
* Diamond Reef System
* Surface-supplied diving skills
* Underwater searches
* Teaching methods
* Muscle memory
* Overtraining
* Stress exposure training

|

Organisations|

* European Underwater Federation (EUF)
* International Diving Regulators and Certifiers Forum (IDRCF)
* International Diving Schools Association (IDSA)
* International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA)
* List of diver certification organizations
* National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
* Nautical Archaeology Society
* Universal Referral Program
* World Recreational Scuba Training Council (WRSTC)

| Commercial diver
certification
authorities|

* Australian Diver Accreditation Scheme (ADAS)
* Commercial diver registration in South Africa
* Divers Institute of Technology
* Health and Safety Executive (HSE)
* Department of Employment and Labour

|

Commercial diving
schools|

* Divers Academy International

Free-diving
certification
agencies|

* AIDA International (AIDA)
* Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques (CMAS)
* Performance Freediving International (PI)
* Scuba Schools International (SSI)

Recreational scuba
certification
agencies|

* American Canadian Underwater Certifications (ACUC)
* American Nitrox Divers International (ANDI)
* Association nationale des moniteurs de plongée (ANMP)
* British Sub-Aqua Club (BSAC)
* Comhairle Fo-Thuinn (CFT)
* Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques (CMAS)
* Federación Española de Actividades Subacuáticas (FEDAS)
* Fédération Française d'Études et de Sports Sous-Marins (FFESSM)
* Federazione Italiana Attività Subacquee (FIAS)
* Global Underwater Explorers (GUE)
* International Association for Handicapped Divers (IAHD)
* International Association of Nitrox and Technical Divers (IANTD)
* International Diving Educators Association (IDEA)
* Israeli Diving Federation (TIDF)
* National Association for Cave Diving (NACD)
* National Academy of Scuba Educators (NASE)
* National Association of Underwater Instructors (NAUI)
* Nederlandse Onderwatersport Bond (NOB)
* Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI)
* Professional Diving Instructors Corporation (PDIC)
* Sub-Aqua Association (SAA)
* Scuba Diving International (SDI)
* Scuba Educators International (SEI)
* Scottish Sub Aqua Club (ScotSAC)
* Scuba Schools International (SSI)
* Türkiye Sualtı Sporları Federasyonu (TSSF)
* United Diving Instructors (UDI)
* YMCA SCUBA Program

Recreational scuba
certification
levels|

* Advanced Open Water Diver
* Autonomous diver
* CMAS* scuba diver
* CMAS** scuba diver
* Dive leader
* Divemaster
* Diving instructor
* Introductory diving
* Low Impact Diver
* Master Instructor
* Master Scuba Diver
* Open Water Diver
* Rescue Diver
* Solo diver
* Supervised diver

Scientific diver
certification
authorities|

* American Academy of Underwater Sciences (AAUS)
* CMAS Scientific Committee

Technical
certification
agencies|

* American Nitrox Divers International (ANDI)
* British Sub-Aqua Club (BSAC)
* Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques (CMAS)
* Diving Science and Technology (DSAT)
* Federazione Italiana Attività Subacquee (FIAS)
* Global Underwater Explorers (GUE)
* International Association of Nitrox and Technical Divers (IANTD)
* National Association of Underwater Instructors (NAUI)
* Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI)
* Professional Diving Instructors Corporation (PDIC)
* Technical Diving International (TDI)
* Trimix Scuba Association (TSA)
* Technical Extended Range (TXR)

| Cave
diving|

* Cave Divers Association of Australia (CDAA)
* Cave Diving Group (CDG)
* Global Underwater Explorers (GUE)
* National Association for Cave Diving (NACD)
* National Speleological Society#Cave Diving Group (CDG)
* National Association of Underwater Instructors (NAUI)
* Technical Diving International (TDI)

|

Underwater sports

| Surface snorkeling|

* Finswimming (surface swimming & bi-fins)

|

Snorkeling/breath-hold|

* Spearfishing
* Underwater football
* Underwater hockey
* Underwater rugby
* Underwater target shooting

Breath-hold|

* Aquathlon (underwater wrestling)
* Apnoea finswimming
* Freediving
* Underwater ice hockey

Open Circuit Scuba|

* Immersion finswimming
* Sport diving (sport)
* Underwater orienteering
* Underwater photography (sport)

Rebreather|

* Underwater photography (sport)

Sports governing
organisations|

* International
* AIDA International
* Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques)
* National
* Australian Underwater Federation
* British Octopush Association
* British Underwater Sports Association
* Comhairle Fo-Thuinn
* Federación Española de Actividades Subacuáticas
* Fédération Française d'Études et de Sports Sous-Marins
* South African Underwater Sports Federation
* Türkiye Sualtı Sporları Federasyonu
* Underwater Society of America)

Freediver Federations|

* AIDA International
* AIDA Hellas
* British Freediving Association (BFA)
* Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques (CMAS)

Sports federations|

* Australian Underwater Federation (AUF)
* British Octopush Association (BOA)
* British Underwater Sports Association (BUSA)
* Federación Española de Actividades Subacuáticas (FEDAS)
* Fédération Française d'Études et de Sports Sous-Marins (FFESSM)
* South African Underwater Sports Federation (SAUSF)
* Türkiye Sualtı Sporları Federasyonu (TSSF)
* Underwater Society of America (USOA)

Underwater divers

| Pioneers of diving|

* Aquanaut
* Jacques Cousteau
* Hans Hass
* Arne Zetterström

|

Underwater scientists and archaeologists|

* Michael Arbuthnot
* Robert Ballard
* George Bass
* Mensun Bound
* Louis Boutan
* Hugh Bradner
* Cathy Church
* Eugenie Clark
* James P. Delgado
* Sylvia Earle
* John Christopher Fine
* George R. Fischer
* Anders Franzén
* Honor Frost
* David Gibbins
* Robert F. Marx
* Charles T. Meide
* Mark M. Newell
* John Peter Oleson
* Margaret Rule
* Gunter Schöbel
* E. Lee Spence
* Robert Sténuit
* Peter Throckmorton

Scuba record holders|

* Sheck Exley
* Nuno Gomes

Underwater filmmakers|

* Samir Alhafith
* David Attenborough
* Ramón Bravo
* Ivan Tors
* Andrew Wight

Underwater photographers|

* Tamara Benitez
* Georges Beuchat
* Adrian Biddle
* Jonathan Bird
* Eric Cheng
* Neville Coleman
* Jacques Cousteau
* John D. Craig
* Ben Cropp
* Bernard Delemotte
* David Doubilet
* John Christopher Fine
* Dermot FitzGerald
* Rodney Fox
* Ric Frazier
* Stephen Frink
* Peter Gimbel
* Monty Halls
* Hans Hass
* Henry Way Kendall
* Rudie Kuiter
* Joseph B. MacInnis
* Luis Marden
* Agnes Milowka
* Noel Monkman
* Steve Parish
* Zale Parry
* Pierre Petit
* Leni Riefenstahl
* Peter Scoones
* Brian Skerry
* Wesley C. Skiles
* E. Lee Spence
* Philippe Tailliez
* Ron and Valerie Taylor
* Albert Tillman
* John Veltri
* Stan Waterman
* Jiang Wenhao
* Michele Westmorland
* John Ernest Williamson
* J. Lamar Worzel

Underwater explorers|

* Caves
* Sheck Exley
* Martyn Farr
* Jill Heinerth
* William Hogarth Main
* Rick Stanton
* Bill Stone
* John Volanthen
* Reefs
*   * Wrecks
* Clive Cussler
* Aristotelis Zervoudis

Science of underwater diving

| Diving
physics|

* Breathing performance of regulators
* Buoyancy
* Archimedes' principle
* Neutral buoyancy
* Diffusion
* Molecular diffusion
* Force
* Gas law
* Amontons's law
* Boyle's law
* Charles's law
* Combined gas law
* Dalton's law
* Gay-Lussac's law
* Ideal gas law
* Oxygen fraction
* Permeation
* Pressure
* Absolute pressure
* Ambient pressure
* Atmospheric pressure
* Gauge pressure
* Hydrostatic pressure
* Metre sea water
* Partial pressure
* Psychrometric constant
* Solubility
* Henry's law
* Saturation
* Solution
* Supersaturation
* Surface tension
* Hydrophobe
* Surfactant
* Torricellian chamber
* Underwater vision
* Snell's law
* Weight
* Apparent weight

|

Diving
physiology|

* Artificial gills
* Circulatory system
* Blood shift
* Patent foramen ovale
* Perfusion
* Systemic circulation
* Cold shock response
* Diving reflex
* Equivalent narcotic depth
* Lipid
* Maximum operating depth
* Metabolism
* Physiological response to water immersion
* Respiration
* Blood–air barrier
* Breathing
* CO₂ retention
* dead space
* Gas exchange
* Hypocapnia
* Normocapnia
* Respiratory exchange ratio
* Respiratory quotient
* Respiratory system
* Work of breathing
* Tissue
* Underwater vision

| Decompression
theory|

* Decompression models:
* Bühlmann decompression algorithm
* Haldane's decompression model
* Reduced gradient bubble model
* Thalmann algorithm
* Thermodynamic model of decompression
* Varying Permeability Model
* Equivalent air depth
* Equivalent narcotic depth
* Maximum operating depth
* Oxygen window in diving decompression
* Physiology of decompression
* Pulmonary circulation

|

Diving
environment|

| Diving
environment
classification|

* Altitude diving
* Benign water diving
* Confined water diving
* Deep diving
* Inland diving
* Inshore diving
* Muck diving
* Night diving
* Open water diving
* Open ocean diving
* Black-water diving
* Blue-water diving
* Penetration diving
* Cave diving
* Ice diving
* Wreck diving
* Recreational dive sites
* Underwater environment

|

Environmental
impact|

* Environmental impact of recreational diving
* Low impact diving

Environmental
factors|

* Algal bloom
* Currents:
* Current
* Longshore drift
* Ocean current
* Rip current
* Tidal race
* Undertow
* Upwelling
* Ekman transport
* Halocline
* List of diving hazards and precautions
* Reef
* Coral reef
* Stratification
* Thermocline
* Tides
* Turbidity
* Wind wave
* Breaking wave
* Surf
* Surge
* Wave shoaling

Special interest groups

* Artificial Reef Society of British Columbia (ARSBC)
* CMAS Europe
* Diving Equipment and Marketing Association (DEMA)
* Divers Alert Network (DAN)
* Green Fins
* Historical Diving Society
* Nautical Archaeology Society (NAS)
* Naval Air Command Sub Aqua Club
* Project AWARE
* Reef Life Survey
* Save Ontario Shipwrecks (SOS)
* SeaKeys
* Sea Research Society

Other

* Submarine escape training facility

* Category
* Commons
*   * Glossary
* Indexes: dive sites
* divers
* diving
*   * Outline
* Portal

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Original source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underwater exploration. Read more

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