Before Zipping Your Wetsuit… "Next to your diving buddy, this is your best friend. Make sure you read it before doing any kind of diving." Scott Gudes is talking about the 4th edition of NOAA's diving manual, often considered the standard for scientific and recreational diving. Scott is Acting Under Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere/Administrator and Deputy Under Secretary. He's also a diver. The over 650-page NOAA Diving Manual: Diving for Science and Technology has details on everything from diving equipment and breathing gas mixtures, to marine life and the history of diving. Guidance on technical diving and an expanded chapter on diving physiology are new to this edition. Over 100 experts contributed to the manual, which reflects the collaboration of NOAA and the Commerce Department's National Technical Information Service and Best Publishing. The publisher reports that the 25,000 copies produced recently are moving fast. Sales are higher than expected. NOAA's diving safety record over the years has been excellent. This manual draws upon that collective experience within the NOAA Diving Program and the NOAA Undersea Research Program. With over 300 divers and averaging more than 10,000 dives every year, NOAA operates the largest federal civilian diving program. The Seattle-based program trains and certifies scientists, engineers and technicians to conduct underwater research and experiments. NOAA's National Underwater Research center provides a unique national service by equipping scientists with tools and expertise to work underwater. The program offers submersibles, remotely operated or autonomous underwater vehicles, mixed gas diving gear, underwater observatories, and Aquarius, the world's only underwater habitat/laboratory. NOAA's diving manual is available in hard and soft covers and on CD-Rom. It's available in dive shops, or you can visit the NTIS Dive Manual web page. For more details: Dave Dinsmore, Director of NOAA's Diving Program, dave.dinsmore@noaa.gov; or Al Kalvaitis, al.kalvaitis@noaa.gov, Program Officer at NOAA Research's National Undersea Research Program.