NOAA Diving Program conducts decompression research

The NOAA Diving Program partnered with Dr. Neal Pollock (center) to gather data on bubble formation in the hearts of divers conducting deep mixed gas dives on board the NOAA Ship Hi'ialakai during a September 2015 expedition. Working with him on this project were: Leah Potts (left) and Dr. Denise Blake (right).
The NOAA Diving Program has partnered with physiologist Dr. Neal Pollock (Divers Alert Network and Duke University) to conduct a collaborative research project focused on bubble formation in the hearts of divers doing multiple deep dives. The non-invasive study, which involved a team of divers from the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument in Hawaii who sailed aboard NOAA Ship Hi'ialakai in September, will help inform decisions on how to plan and conduct decompression diving. The divers used closed-circuit rebreathers to depths of up to 300 ft., the deepest any NOAA diver has yet explored.