Ascent rate monitoring using air bubbles?

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Just an afterthought....

How about you take your scenario; and you add in losing your mask. Maybe you can "feel" your smallest bubbles :D
 
Not sure it has "worked for years". Where does the most decompression take place? The last 15 feet. Where is the bubbles ascent rate the fastest? The last 15 feet. :(
 
Where is the bubbles ascent rate the fastest? The last 15 feet.
Not sure about that. Certainly the bubble grows more with respect to depth when closer to the surface. But since gravity and the density of water are essentially the same at all depths, it would seem that for a given bubble size (smallest bubbles) the velocity should not be affected by depth.
 
Try using this method with re-breathers, not practical!! Those that dive with only one computer are nuts, have you not heard the phrase "One is non, two is one"

Not really impractical. As you come up you have to blow off gas as it expands in your counterlungs. You're going to have bubbles.
 
Your question is at best hypothetical. If you really plan a dive at night, under ice, by yourself this way, God be with you! I have been a professional diver and gone to places some people would not dangle their feet in, let alone dive in (like sewer outfalls) zero vis, even with lights - and let me tell you, your plan of going down solo, at night, in an overhead environment only with a rope tied around your waist is asking for trouble. At least they'll be able to retrieve your body easily. First of all, you would have a stationary down line (weighted, with a strobe attached) to help you ascend safely, if your computer failed. (I'd even insist on a spare tank and regs attached to the downline, with yet another strobe). Secondly, You'd put fresh batteries in your computer no matter what, and carry a set of analog (mechanical) gages, just in case - I don't trust anything with batteries. Thirdly, in my line of work we were required to have a stand-by diver, fully dressed-in on deck if we dove in an overhead enviornment alone. I'm a solo diver. Always have been, always will be, and the only thing I fear under water is another diver. I am my own best redundancy. No gadget, nor ill-trained amateur buddy is going to be my insurance for a safe return. Neither is the dive tender who may or may not be paying attention (was that three pulls or four??) It's all up to me and me alone. Dive safe. It's your life.
 
Oh, sorry. I forgot to answer your hypothetical question. I would not count bubbles, unless I had nothing better to do under water, like hanging on a downline...Yes, the ascending bubbles give you some sort of idea how fast you are ascending, and yes, if you're coming up faster than the bubbles you're exhaling, you're in trouble. But to gage your ascent according to the bubbles around you is hardly an accurate measure. To be safe, you'd ascend slower than any of them, but where do you stop? Half- inch diameter bubbles? Quarter? Tiny bubbles? Some of the tiniest bubbles take many minutes to come to the surface. You'd run out of air long before the last of them make it to the top...
 
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