Coast Guard Diver Fatality - Autopsy and Report (AP)

SEATTLE, Washington (AP) -- One of two Coast Guard divers who mysteriously died during a training dive in the Arctic last summer sank uncontrollably as far as 190 feet below the icy surface and suffocated, according to an autopsy summary obtained by The Associated Press.

The divers had slipped into a patch of open water near the ship's bow and were planning to dive to a maximum depth of 20 feet, said William Hill Jr. His daughter Lt. Jessica Hill, along with Boatswain's Mate Steven Duque, died August 17, 500 miles north of Alaska.

A support team supposedly held ropes attached to them lest they became disoriented under the ice, Hill said. "Why in the hell did they let out that much rope?" he asked. "It was only scheduled for 20 feet."

The Coast Guard has released little information about the deaths but relieved the Healy's commander, citing a loss of confidence in his ability. A spokesman said the Coast Guard would not discuss Hill's autopsy report -- given to the AP by Hill -- pending the outcome of its investigations, expected next year.

The autopsy summary, written by Armed Forces Regional Medical Examiner Stanley D. Adams, said Hill suffered "an uncontrolled descent to a possible depth of 189 feet."

The amount of air in the divers' tanks would have lasted a half-hour at 20 feet, but only 10 minutes at 180, the report said. By the time Hill, 31, and Duque, 22, had been pulled up, their air tanks were empty or nearly empty, the report said.

The dive support team reportedly pulled the divers to the surface after becoming concerned; attempts to resuscitate the two failed.

The autopsy ruled Hill's death an accident. The cause was asphyxia, lung trauma caused as pressure decreases during ascents, and possible air bubbles in the blood. Duque's family could not immediately be reached to confirm whether he died of the same causes.

"It is quite likely the divers lost consciousness prior to or during the ascent," Adams wrote.

The autopsy summary also noted that a third diver planned to take part, but "immediately aborted the dive" for reasons that are not mentioned.

Healy was sailing through the Arctic with about 35 scientists to collect data that would help them map the ocean floor. Hill was the ship's dive officer as well as the liaison between the scientists and the crew.

Adams added that his findings must be squared with investigations into the state of the divers' equipment and into the circumstances of the dive.

Hill, of St. Augustine, Florida, said he plans to ask an independent pathologist to review the autopsy results.

His daughter's birthday would have been Monday.

"Right now, I'm just waiting to get the Christmas holidays over and wait for the New Year," he said. "Then I can expect the next report."

Deep Sea - full of surprises

Sometimes I regret that I have taken up such a "shallow" topic as the sea-ice ecosystem. Partly, the reason was that I would get to go there myself, both to the ice-covered seas and - as scuba-diver - to the underside of the ice. However, as exciting and challening as under-ice scuba diving (open-ciruit or rebreather) might be, I usually only go down to a few meters depth there (max. approx. 15 m beneath the surface, on some deep ice keels) although water depths may range in >2000 or even >3000 m range in the polar basins.

So when I read about the seemingly never-ending discoveries, exciting possibilities and strange creatures found in the deep ocean, I always get immensely jealous. I should have dropped the "Jacques Cousteau Act" years ago and become a "serious" a.k.a. Deep Sea marine biologist!
____________________

"WASHINGTON (AP) -- Peering deep into the sea, scientists are finding creatures more mysterious than many could have imagined. At one site, nearly 2 miles deep in the Atlantic, shrimp were living around a vent that was releasing water heated to 765 degrees Fahrenheit. Water surrounding the site was a chilly 36 degrees.

An underwater peak in the Coral Sea was home to a type of shrimp thought to have gone extinct 50 million years ago.

More than 3 miles beneath the Sargasso Sea, in the Atlantic, researchers collected a dozen new species eating each other or living on organic material that drifts down from above.

"Animals seem to have found a way to make a living just about everywhere," said Jesse Ausubel of the Sloan Foundation, discussing the findings of year six of the census of marine life.

Added Ron O'Dor, a senior scientist with the census: "We can't find anyplace where we can't find anything new."

For complete report, go here.

North Sea Divers drugged by authorities

There is a ongoing struggle between Norway's North Sea Diver association and the State of Norway over compensation for work-related injuries sustained by the so-called "pioneer divers" of the mid-60's, when according to the diver's association the rules and information policy about dive and decompression risks were unacceptably poor. Now, a new medical investigation by a researcher of Trondheim's St. Olav's Hospital sheds some more light and credibility into their claims of mistreatment.

Medical director Kari Todnem at St. Olav's Hospital states that she believes North Sea divers were secretly and systematically drugged in pressure chambers during ascent in order to calm them and to spare diving gas. Her research demonstrated nerve and lung damage among the pioneer divers and found the repetition of drugs such as Medrol and Valium in records, and this widespread sedation is a new discovery. This drug use was later confirmed via interviews with surviving divers.

The letters the divers have acquired as evidence were marked top secret for an 80-year period in the future by Norwegian authorities, and reveal knowledge of the dangers involved with the type of repeated diving the men were doing.

For a full report, go to Aftenposten (English version).

Dilbert for the weekend

Alps experience warmest period in 1300 years

From the AP news feed:

"We are currently experiencing the warmest period in the Alpine region in 1,300 years," Reinhard Boehm, a climatologist at Austria's Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics said.

...

Boehm said the current warm period in the Alpine region began in the 1980s, noting that a similar warming occurred in the 10th and 12th centuries. However, the temperatures during those phases were "slightly under the temperatures we've experienced over the past 20 years."

...

The unseasonably warm weather this autumn has caused concern in Austria's ski resorts, where slopes are still largely covered in green grass instead of snow. Many, such as St. Anton am Arlberg, have had to postpone the start of their skiing season and some have tried attracting tourists with alternative programs, such as hiking.

_______________________

And now for the highlight of the article, a comment from a person with the unlikely - and thus very Austrian - name of Himmelfreundpointner:
_______________________

Wilma Himmelfreundpointner, deputy director of the St. Anton Tourist Office, said the resort has the capability to cover 80 percent of its slopes with fake snow. But the current mild temperatures and sunshine make that an impossible option at the moment, she said.

"What can you do? One can't change the weather," Himmelfreundpointer said.

Moving to the beat of your TomTom

After debating the issue for a long time, I finally purchased a car navigation system (a TomTom One) and tested it a bit on local roads as well as on a drive to the airport. It worked great, and came in especially handy when I had to drive all my belongings in a rented truck to my new home in Norway a few days later.



As I was fortunate enough to get hold of one of the last boxes of last year's version, it even came at an affordable price, including digital maps of the entire Western Europe as well as a spare SD card, all for the price of a current version with Germany maps only.





I am really looking forward to never ever arguing with any passengers/navigators in shotgun seat any more, never having to stop for a look at the map when I am driving alone, and especially to having a cool new gadget to play around with ;-)

Submatix SCR/mCCR testing

Recently - well, actually several weeks ago - we tried out the Submatix SCR and mCCR unit, what they call an SCR 100 ST. As mentioned before, this product is by now fully upgradeable to a KISS-style CCR, and since our local dealer only had a CCR model available at the time, we reversed the process and "downgraded" it to SCR for the sake of the experiment.

Also, this was because I still cannot bring myself to accept manually controlled closed-circuit rebreathers as such a really good idea... but that's probably just me.

So here come a few glimpses of the unit (note the "plug" in the first stage feeding the KISS valve on the right side reg):



Here you see the unit assembled with the back cover opened for the OP test:



And now the closed unit, a very compact and sleek design.



Finally, we got to the wet part of the testing (hint: rebreather on the left side...).



The usual stretching exercises...



The system is sooo quiet, you could almost fall asleep underwater!



To sum it up: a nice compact and lightweight unit which is easily converted SCR->CCR and vice versa. By now, the counterlungs are two separate bags, thus reducing concerns about possible leaks affecting the breathing mix (previous models were equipped with one bag within the other, presumably resulting in easier WOB). Everything works, is ready for the market and even has acquired CE approval (for what it is worth, this is probably mostly of concern to dive shops, retailers and insurances).

The downside as I see them are:

• compact size also means restriction to one (rather small) size and shape of tanks (unless you want to attach the tanks on the outside of the case)

• connections for the loop as well as counterlung bags are plastic rings which "snap" in place. Handling these connector rings takes some confidence and practice, and I could not shake the impression that it was a matter of time before the "snap" comes while you handle that ring, but before you have connected it...

• the price point (cited at 2.900,- € + taxes) is not bad, but not very competitive either: you get a lot of Dräger parts for that kind of money...

So I remain unconvinced, and will probably keep using the Dolphin for scientific dives while looking for a nice used unit for recreational diving.