page_title: Dive profile
section_title: Reverse profile
hierarchical_section_title: Dive profile / Types of dive profile / Reverse profile
caption_attribution_description: English: Reverse dive profile in yellow showing the first dive in red
context_page_description: A dive profile is a description of a diver's pressure exposure over time. It may be as simple as just a depth and time pair, as in: "sixty for twenty," or as complex as a second by second graphical representation of depth and time recorded by a personal dive computer. Several common types of dive profile are specifically named, and these may be characteristic of the purpose of the dive. For example, a working dive at a limited location will often follow a constant depth profile, and a recreational dive is likely to follow a multilevel profile, as the divers start deep and work their way up a reef to get the most out of the available breathing gas. The names are usually descriptive of the graphic appearance.
  The intended dive profile is useful as a planning tool as an indication of the risks of decompression sickness and oxygen toxicity for the exposure, and also for estimating the volume of open-circuit breathing gas needed for a planned dive, as these depend in part upon the depth and duration of the dive. A dive profile diagram is conventionally drawn with elapsed time running from left to right and depth increasing down the page.
context_section_description: Reverse profiles occur when a repeat dive is deeper than the earlier dive. Many diver training agencies discourage reverse profiles because they use a decompression model which is not efficient for safe decompression of a reverse profile. The American Academy of Underwater Sciences workshop concluded there was no reason for the diving communities to prohibit reverse dive profiles for no-decompression dives less than 40 metres (130 ft) deep and depth differentials less than 12 metres (40 ft). The term is also sometimes used to refer to a single dive profile where the depth generally increases during the bottom phase of the dive until the start of the ascent.
caption: Reverse dive profile in yellow showing the first dive in red
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