Dive tables
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dive Tables, Decompression Tables or Tables are printed cards or booklets that allow divers to determine for a particular dive profile and breathing gas, the Decompression stops required for that dive in order to avoid decompression sickness.
With dive tables, it is assumed that the dive profile is a square dive, meaning that the diver descends to full depth immediately and stays at the same depth until resurfacing (approximating a rectangular line when drawn in a coordinate system where one axis is depth and the other is duration).
More complex tables can take into account staged dives, dives performed at altitude, and decompression dives.
Common decompression tables are:
- US Navy Tables
- Bühlmann tables
- BSAC 88 tables
- PADI tables: the recreational dive planner (RDP) and "the wheel"
- DCIEM tables
Alternatives to traditional decompression tables are:
- the Dive computer - has the advantages of monitoring the actual dive, as opposed to the planned dive, and does not work on a "square profile" - it dynamically calculates the real profile of depth over time.
- bespoke tables generated by decompression software - represent a diver's specific dive plan and breathing gas mixtures.
- Deco On The Fly (DOTF) is a method for quickly and accurately determining the necessary decompression profile without the use of tables or computers. It is taught in advanced diving courses held by GUE instructors. Deco On The Fly is also called Ratio Deco as it relates to using a known set point of decompression obligation related to a specific depth and bottom time. The decompression obligation changes in set increments relative to the set point with changes in actual depth or bottom time.
