Classes of Underwater Breathing Apparatus
- Surface supplied diving - mostly used in professional diving. This category includes:
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- Surface oriented surface supplied diving (Bounce diving), where the diver starts and finished the dive at normal atmospheric pressure.
- Saturation diving, where the diver remains under pressure in a underwater habitat or saturation spread between underwater excursions.
- Standard diving dress - mostly used in professional diving. Mainly of historical interest now.
- Airline or Hookah diving.
- "Compressor diving" - a rudimentary form of surface supplied diving used in the Philippines by artisanal fishermen.
- Recreational forms like snuba.
- Scuba diving - The use of self-contained underwater breathing apparatus. This category includes:
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- Open-circuit scuba consisting of diving cylinder(s) and diving regulator(s)
- Rebreather, closed-circuit or semi-closed-circuit scuba
- Free diving or breathhold diving, where the diver completes the dive on a single breath of air taken at the surface before the dive.
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- Snorkel allows breathing at the surface with the face submerged, and is used as an adjunct to free diving and scuba.
- Atmospheric diving suits and other submersibles which isolate the diver from the ambient environment. These are not considered here.
- Liquid breathing systems are extremely rare and at an early experimental stage. It is hoped that some day practical systems allow very deep diving. This is not considered here.
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A US Navy diver at work. The umbilical supplying air from the surface is clearly visible
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Diver in standard diving dress entering water at Stoney Cove, England
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Scuba diver with single cylinder and open circuit regulator
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Free-diver with monofin, ascending
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The Newtsuit is an atmospheric diving suit which has fully articulated rotary joints in the arms and legs.
Read more about this topic: Diving Equipment
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