Students experiment with scuba technology

Scuba divers are often frustrated when the bubbles coming from their systems scare fish. But with the help of a device called a rebreather, divers can come face-to-face with their underwater counterparts without bubbles getting in the way.\nSouthern Indiana Scuba and the rebreather's manufacturer, DraegerDive America, demonstrated the unit to students in IU's underwater sciences program, along with interested members of the diving public, Wednesday night in the Health, Physical Education and Recreation Pool 194.\n"The purpose of this demonstration is to bring awareness to the sport diving community about this technology," said Mark Brooks, owner of Southern Indiana Scuba. \nBut the rebreather is not a new technology. The system was first used in the early 1900s, long before the advent of scuba gear used today. It has always been commercially available, but has not been affordable for the recreational diver market until now.\nThe price is nearly $4,000. But Brooks said that is comparable with a top-of-the-line scuba outfit.\nThe rebreather works by taking the diver's own breath, filtering out the carbon dioxide to avoid a toxic buildup, and mixing the remainder of the gases with enriched oxygen to recycle the air. The result is no bubbles.\n"The fish swim right up to your face," said Brooks.\n Another result is longer time underwater. With just a tiny air tank, compared to the large aluminum tanks associated with scuba, a diver can stay underwater for up to six hours in depths up to 30 feet. \n "I liked the rebreather," said Christie King, a senior in elementary education who is studying for her underwater science certificate. "I can see why all the bubbles of the traditional scuba systems tend to scare off some marine organisms." \n After the demonstration, she said she was impressed with the underwater silence that accompanied the unit. But she cringed at the expense of purchasing and maintaining it. \n Despite the hefty price tag, the rebreather, which looks like a cross between a spare plastic gas tank and a rocket booster backpack, is the wave of the future, said Jonathan Brooks of DraegerDive America.\n"This is reasonably new to the recreational dive market," Brooks said, where divers are only certified to dive to 60 feet, "but we're already testing prototypes that can descend to 240 feet."\nBesides King, nearly 20 IU students tried out the rebreather. Most of them were there as part of a scientific diving course, offered through the underwater sciences program. About 200 students are in the program, and director Charles Beeker said he is enthusiastic about what IU has to offer.\n"You can get a certificate in underwater science, or a full major in underwater archaeology through the Individualized Major Program at IU," he said. "We're one of the first in the country to offer that type of program to undergraduates."\nCurriculum elements include diving certification and areas of special study, including underwater photography, night diving and rebreather instruction. These are complemented by research projects usually conducted during the summer.\nKing is going to Key Largo, Fla., for the summer to make site plans of popular wreck sites in the area. "We will be learning how to conduct underwater research and underwater documentation as we study the different cultural and biological resources at the dive sites," she said.\nShe said she doesn't know if she'll get to use a rebreather during the project, but said she would like to try one out in the ocean.\nInformation on the underwater sciences program is available at www.indiana.edu/~scuba.