Saturation diving

thumb|Saturation diver working on the [[USS Monitor|USS Monitor wreck at 70 m (230 ft) depth|alt=A diver wearing lightweight helmet and hot-water suit working on a piece of corroded and encrusted wreckage with a club hammer]]

thumb|Saturation diver conducting deep-sea salvage operations|alt=A diver in lightweight helmet and hot-water suit sits on a spreader bar while making adjustments. The emergency gas supply cylinder and excursion umbilical are clearly visible.

Saturation diving is an ambient pressure diving technique which allows a diver to remain at working depth for extended periods during which the body tissues become saturated with metabolically inert gas from the breathing gas mixture. Once saturated, the time required for decompression to surface pressure will not increase with longer exposure. The diver undergoes a single decompression to surface pressure at the end of the exposure of several days to weeks duration. The ratio of productive working time at depth to unproductive decompression time is thereby increased, and the health risk to the diver incurred by decompression is minimised. Unlike other ambient pressure diving, the saturation diver is only exposed to external ambient pressure while at diving depth.

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