Scientific Diving Program?

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CAPTAIN SINBAD

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I was reading about Smithsonian's scientific diving program and the info there was extremely limited. Can anyone tell me the areas in which scuba diving is being used to advance scientific research and if there are university programs or certifications geared towards it? Thanks.
 
you need special permits from NOAA to dive and the universities require any graduate research that needs diving to have the divers qualified through NOAA. Most of it is really just people playing fetch for the researchers, whether it be water samples or hard specimens. I have an equivalent certification meaning I'm qualified to dive for NOAA but I'm not an employee.
NC State University: Aquatics
Lots of info there from our scientific diving program which I work with. Gives the AAUS manual and most of what you want to know.
 
AAUS is the American Academy of Underwater Sciences, and is pretty much the go to organization for scientific diving in the US. It was founded in 1977 in order to define scientific diving from commercial diving, and allow for an exemption in OSHA's commercial diving regulations. One of the many reasons for this was because OSHA had certain requirements for commercial diving, such as having a decompression chamber on site. You simply could not fund that with a science budget.

You can find out more about AAUS through their website.
About AAUS

AAUS works differently from your standard recreational agencies. It allows each establishment to operate as a sovereign entity, making their own protocols and procedures. This allows each establishment to customize their diving operations for their usual tasks and environments.
Because of this however, an AAUS diver from UC Santa Cruz can't simply dive for the Monterey Bay Aquarium (45mins away). They would need an orientation dive and/or a Letter of Reciprocity before they would be cleared to dive for another program.

Additionally I consider being an AAUS Sci Diver a rating not a certification, as you can usually lose your standing if you don't log a certain number of dives annually. There may be additional requirements as well such as CPR certs, First aid certs, and annual equipment inspections done by your program's Tech.

For each program there will probably be one rating: AAUS Sci Diver for *establishment*. You may get a NAUI Master Diver card, a different agency card, or you may get no card at all. I didn't get any card from AAUS, just one from NAUI with some special added text saying I was a "UCSC Sci Diver".
There may also probably be depth ratings for each diver. UCSC sets their ratings at 30ft, 45ft, 70ft, 100ft, and 130ft. You cannot make a scientific dive below your depth rating.

You can usually find an AAUS program at aquariums, universities, science museums; pretty much anyplace that would require scuba diving for scientific purposes. (ie. geology, biology, ecology).
Off the top of my head I'm sure the Georgia Aquarium has such a program. UC Santa Cruz has one as well as University of Oregon and Monterey Bay Aquarium. The best way to find one near to you is to checkout any marine laboratories/universities or major aquariums.
 
We have been working with the AAUS to get their publications online for quite some time now (my fault on the delay, I can only do so much around the day job :wink:.

Flipping through the publications we have online so far could help you get a better idea of the kinds of work being done. The collection is here but you can search through the titles from this link.

Good luck!
 
Thanks a lot everyone. This is very good and useful information. I am reading all the links. Very fascinating.
 
you need special permits from NOAA to dive and the universities require any graduate research that needs diving to have the divers qualified through NOAA. Most of it is really just people playing fetch for the researchers, whether it be water samples or hard specimens. I have an equivalent certification meaning I'm qualified to dive for NOAA but I'm not an employee.
NC State University: Aquatics
Lots of info there from our scientific diving program which I work with. Gives the AAUS manual and most of what you want to know.
I love the fact that on the NC State Aquatics web site they advertise: STROKE CLASSES.

Seriously, I know of no academic institution (which means that I'm sure someone will come up with one) that uses NOAA diver status as a requirement for diving under institutional auspices, in fact, I do not think that NOAA Diver status would meet either the OSHA or AAUS training specification. The tradition of AAUS argues against sending diving techs out to play fetch for the researchers, the whole point is to get the researcher into the environment that they are studying.
AAUS is the American Academy of Underwater Sciences, and is pretty much the go to organization for scientific diving in the US. It was founded in 1977 in order to define scientific diving from commercial diving, and allow for an exemption in OSHA's commercial diving regulations. One of the many reasons for this was because OSHA had certain requirements for commercial diving, such as having a decompression chamber on site. You simply could not fund that with a science budget.

You can find out more about AAUS through their website.
About AAUS

AAUS works differently from your standard recreational agencies. It allows each establishment to operate as a sovereign entity, making their own protocols and procedures. This allows each establishment to customize their diving operations for their usual tasks and environments.
Because of this however, an AAUS diver from UC Santa Cruz can't simply dive for the Monterey Bay Aquarium (45mins away). They would need an orientation dive and/or a Letter of Reciprocity before they would be cleared to dive for another program.

Additionally I consider being an AAUS Sci Diver a rating not a certification, as you can usually lose your standing if you don't log a certain number of dives annually. There may be additional requirements as well such as CPR certs, First aid certs, and annual equipment inspections done by your program's Tech.

For each program there will probably be one rating: AAUS Sci Diver for *establishment*. You may get a NAUI Master Diver card, a different agency card, or you may get no card at all. I didn't get any card from AAUS, just one from NAUI with some special added text saying I was a "UCSC Sci Diver".
There may also probably be depth ratings for each diver. UCSC sets their ratings at 30ft, 45ft, 70ft, 100ft, and 130ft. You cannot make a scientific dive below your depth rating.

You can usually find an AAUS program at aquariums, universities, science museums; pretty much anyplace that would require scuba diving for scientific purposes. (ie. geology, biology, ecology).
Off the top of my head I'm sure the Georgia Aquarium has such a program. UC Santa Cruz has one as well as University of Oregon and Monterey Bay Aquarium. The best way to find one near to you is to checkout any marine laboratories/universities or major aquariums.
All true, I'd add that the classic depth brackets are 30, 60, 100, 130, 150 and 190 feet. There are additional endorsements for NITROX, Mixed Gas, Decompression, Rebreather, Surface Supplied, Instructor, Saturation, etc. Details of these are handled at the institutional DCB level, rather than by AAUS.
Thanks a lot everyone. This is very good and useful information. I am reading all the links. Very fascinating.
If there is anything specific you'd like to know I'll be glad to try and help.
 
As mentioned, contact Thalassamania, he is an instructor in the AAUS and very experienced and knowledgable...

EDIT. Beat me to it, Thal showed up
 
AAUS does not have instructors. I was the Diving Safety Officer of an institution that was an AAUS member as well as a founder of AAUS.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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