Diving in the Red Sea
Water temperatures in the Red
Sea can vary between 20 and 26 degrees C. The divers sometimes do as
many as three dives a day so, even at that temperature, they will want some
protection from heat loss (What is the body temperature?). They therefore wear a
3mm thick neoprene wet suit and this is what the divers in the photographs are
wearing. The 3mm of neoprene is really 3mm of plastic bubbles that the water
becomes trapped in, and then, because it cannot move, it traps the body heat and
stops the body from losing to much heat.
The divers are carrying a cylinder which will usually carry
compressed air. This is the air that they breathe. The cylinders are made of
steel or aluminium and usually hold about 12 litres of air at about 230
atmospheres. The pressure of air that we normally breathe is 1 atmosphere. The
air is supplied to the diver by a valve system that regulates the air so that it
is always at the same pressure as the surroundings in which the diver demands
the air. So at a depth of 10 metres the water pressure on the diver's lungs
demands that if they want to breathe they need air that has a pressure of at
least 2 atmospheres. The valve supplies this. In the photo below you can see the
demand valve that regulates this.
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Other equipment includes a mask and fins which
help to propel the diver through the water. Sometimes when you are diving
in very delicate areas divers abandon the finsas they can quite easily do a lot
of damage if the diver is inexperienced. The diver will also carry a computer of
some sort which will register air usage, the time that they can remain
underwater, the amount of remaining air and lots of other information. If you
are interested in getting more information on the diving equipment go to the Ask a Question page.
In the next two photographs you can see some divers at work surveying coral
reefs.
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