How much gas will a team consume while exploring the first 200 m of a cave at a depth of 10 m, including installation and retrieval time for a primary reel?

To determine how much gas will be consumed while exploring the first 200 meters of a cave at a depth of 10 meters, it’s important to calculate the total gas usage based on the conditions and the activities involved.

At a depth of 10 meters, the pressure is approximately 1.1 times atmospheric pressure due to the added water column. This means the divers will be experiencing a pressure of around 2.1 ATA (1 ATA at the surface plus 1 ATA for the water).

We also need to account for a safe gas consumption rate per diver. The Standard Surface Consumption Rate (SAC) can be used, which is typically around 20 liters of gas per minute at the surface, but this will increase due to the deeper depth. This adjusted consumption is crucial in calculating total gas usage.

Assuming a hypothetical SAC of around 30 liters per minute for our calculations at depth, we will analyze the total dive time. If we estimate that exploring this distance involves around 30 minutes for installation, exploration, and retrieval of the primary reel, we can calculate the total usage:

1. Gas consumption per diver per minute at depth: 30 liters.

2. Total time spent underwater: 30 minutes