Benefits of scientific scuba diving explained by WHOI

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), a scientific research organisation, has recently added scuba diving as a vital tool for underwater investigation. The researchers have developed more efficient ways to obtain samples from the ocean and make important observations.

Usually, oceanographers use instruments and techniques that can substitute people’s hands and eyes, like special measuring tools and autonomous robots. These allow the researchers to stay safe aboard ships, rather than take risky trips underwater, and also carry out tasks that are impossible for human beings, like submerging hundreds of feet into the ocean for long spans of time.

However, these technological advances are not as certain or as accurate as a one-on-one experiences. “The diving programme at WHOI provides access to shallow ocean for people who need to observe or manipulate things, in places where you can’t do that with a remote device,” said Larry Madin, WHOI director of research and scientific diver “It’s much more effective to be there in person and be able to see what you’re doing.”

The range of this scientific programme goes from shallow water diving, which gives the scientists the possibility of working in small areas for a long time, to blue water diving and cold-water diving. Undoubtedly scuba diving has given a wider prospect of to the world of oceanography.

This became an increasingly popular practice for leisure and for science in the 1950s and 1960s. Although recreational diving and scientific diving are fairly different, scuba diving holiday destinations tend to be the same.

Larry Madin clarifies that scientific submerging cannot be compared to leisure scuba diving. Tourists that take scuba diving holidays wish to be amazed by the natural beauty and have a nice time observing submarine life. Scientists, on the other hand, go with a purpose as well as passion.

“We have a job to do, but it’s a job of our own choosing, because it’s our own research,” adds Madin “We have a certain amount of choice in how we do it but it’s more than just going for fun.”

Oceanographers often need to complete tricky tasks in a certain time length and collect samples and data, as well was look out for each other’s safety. This requires specialised training.

WHOI has developed a diving programme that has trained and certified 418 divers in total, preparing them for whatever conditions their research needs and helping them maintain their expertise. However, tourists who go on scuba diving holidays won’t need such rigorous lessons and training to go underwater as most times they will be accompanied full-time by a qualified instructor.

Edward O’Brien, current safety officer for WHOI, stated that teaching investigators was no easy task. Scuba divers often come to him with problems, describing what they would like to do underwater. Scientific solutions and safety must be related. “It’s all in the training,” he said “Everything’s possible if you take it in small bits and focus on the task.”