Four-Hour Dives with Exercise While Breathing Oxygen Partial Pressure of 1.3 ATM
Abstract
The U.S. Navy Diving Manual authorizes divers to breathe oxygen for up to 240 minutes per day at depths of 20 feet of seawater (fs1w) or less but does not address the possible accumulation of effects over multiple days. We have conducted experimental four-hour dives with oxygen partial pressure (Po2) of approximately 1.4 atmospheres (atm)2,3 and have concluded that the limit of 240 minutes in 24 hours appears to be acceptable for multiple days if divers are at rest. Still, because the increased ventilatory demands and blood flow to the lungs during underwater exercise may cause pulmonary injury or may increase oxygen-induced injury over those ventilatory demands and blood flows experienced at rest, we tested divers after they had exercised underwater while being exposed to 1.3 atm oxygen for four hours. Although we cannot differentiate oxygen effects from exercise effects with this study, we can examine the combined effects. Testing was conducted as part of the NAVSEA-funded task, Pulmonary Oxygen Toxicity Whlle Swimming: How Exercising Underwater or UsThg a Rebreather Underwater Breathing Apparatus Affects Pulmonary Function After 1.35 Atm Oxygen Exposures.4
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 2006
- Accession Number
- ADA455407
Entities
People
- Barbara E. Shykoff
Organizations
- United States Navy Experimental Diving Unit