Note: This Paper/Talk will be presented at the 2019 AAUS Diving for Science Symposium in Vancouver, B.C., October 8-11, 2019.
The question of deep stops and shallow stops is interesting and fraught with controversy in diving circles and operations, training, exploration and scientific endeavors. Plus fraught with some misunderstanding which is understandable as the issues are complex. We, therefore, attempt a short history of deep and shallow stops, physical aspects, staging differences, diving tests, models with data correlations and data banks with user statistics and DCS outcomes as diver amplification. Pros and cons of both deep stop and shallow stop staging are presented. Fallacies are righted when appropriate. Chamber, wet and Doppler tests are contrasted. A compendium of Training Agency Standards regarding deep and shallow stops is included. Dive software is also detailed. Some commercial diving operations are discussed. A short tabulation of dive computer and software algorithms is given. From diving data, tests, DCS outcomes, and field usage, we conclude that both deep stops and shallow stops are safely employed in recreational and technical diving. That is a good thing but choose your deco wisely and know why.
Click here for the full Deep Stops and Shallow Stops paper.
