page_title: Surface-supplied diving
section_title: Application
hierarchical_section_title: Surface-supplied diving / Application
caption_attribution_description: commercial diver polluted water.jpg
context_page_description: Surface-supplied diving is diving using equipment supplied with breathing gas using a diver's umbilical from the surface, either from the shore or from a diving support vessel, sometimes indirectly via a diving bell. This is different from scuba diving, where the diver's breathing equipment is completely self-contained and there is no link to the surface. The primary advantages of conventional surface supplied diving are lower risk of drowning and considerably larger breathing gas supply than scuba, allowing longer working periods and safer decompression. Disadvantages are the absolute limitation on diver mobility imposed by the length of the umbilical, encumbrance by the umbilical, and high logistical and equipment costs compared with scuba. The disadvantages restrict use of this mode of diving to applications where the diver operates within a small area, which is common in commercial diving work.
context_section_description: Surface-supplied diving equipment and techniques are mainly used in professional diving due to the greater cost and complexity of owning and operating the equipment. This type of equipment is used in saturation diving, as the gas supply is relatively secure, and the diver can not bail out to the surface, and for diving in contaminated water, where the diver must be protected from the environment, and helmets are generally used for environmental isolation.
  There has been development of low-cost airline systems for shallow recreational diving, where limited training is offset by physically limiting the depth accessible.
caption: Free flow helmets are commonly used for diving in contaminated water
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