page_title: Outline of underwater diving
section_title: The diving environment
hierarchical_section_title: Outline of underwater diving / Science of underwater diving / The diving environment
caption_attribution_description: English: Large breaking wave
context_page_description: The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to underwater diving:
  Underwater diving – as a human activity, is the practice of descending below the water's surface to interact with the environment.
context_section_description: Underwater diving environment – The underwater environment to which a diver may be exposed
  List of diving environments by type – The variety of environments that people may dive in
  Underwater environment – The aquatic or submarine environment
  Open-water diving – Diving in unrestricted water and in water when the diver has unrestricted vertical access to the surface
  Altitude diving – Underwater diving at altitudes above 300 m
  Cave diving – Underwater diving in water-filled caves
  Deep diving – Underwater diving to a depth beyond the norm accepted by the associated community
  Ice diving – Underwater diving under ice
  Muck diving – Recreational diving on a loose sedimentary bottom
  Night diving – Underwater diving during the hours of darkness
  Recreational dive sites – Specific places that recreational divers go to enjoy the underwater environment or are used for training purposes
  Wreck diving – Recreational diving on wrecks
  Physical and biological aspects of the diving environment
  Algal bloom – Rapid increase or accumulation in the population of planktonic algae
  Breaking wave, also known as Surf – A wave that becomes unstable as a consequence of excessive steepness
  Ocean current – Directional mass flow of oceanic water generated by external or internal forces
  Current (stream) – Flow of water in a river due to gravity
  Ekman transport – Net transport of surface water perpendicular to wind direction
  Halocline – Stratification of a body of water due to salinity differences
  Hazards of the aquatic environment represented by List of diving hazards and precautions#The aquatic environment –
  Hazards of the specific diving environment represented by List of diving hazards and precautions#The specific diving environment –
  List of diving hazards and precautions – List of the hazards to which an underwater diver may be exposed, their possible consequences and the common ways to manage the associated risk
  Longshore current – A current parallel to the shoreline caused by waves approaching at an angle to the shoreline
  Overfall current – A turbulent area of water caused by a strong current over an underwater ridge, or by currents meeting.
  Rip current – Narrow current of water which moves directly away from the shore, cutting through the lines of breaking waves
  Stratification – Stable water layers of different properties that act as a barrier to vertical mixing
  Surge (wave action) currently represented by Waves and shallow water – the component of wave motion close to and parallel with the bottom
  Thermocline – A distinct layer in a large body of fluid in which temperature changes more rapidly with depth than it does in the layers above or below
  Tidal race – A fast-moving tidal flow passing through a constriction, forming waves, eddies and strong currents
  Tide – Rise and fall of the sea level under astronomical gravitational influences
  Turbidity – The cloudiness of a fluid caused by large numbers of particles that are generally invisible to the naked eye
  Undertow (water waves) – Return flow below (nearshore) water waves.
  Upwelling – The replacement by deep water moving upwards of surface water driven offshore by wind
caption: Plunging breaker
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