During the 1st Symposium on the Effect of Chronic Hypoxia on Diseases at High Altitude, held in La Paz, Bolivia on Oct 1-8, 2005, Prof. Poul-Erik Paulev from the University of Copenhagen visited Lake Titicaca (3800 m) for the first time. At the auditorium of Hotel Titicaca where the conferences continued as it was an itinerant meeting, he began with a brief description of his past experience and research related to Submarine Escape training and air embolism in Norway, Japanese AMA pearl divers, to then expose a new concept related to Acid-Base status which is the Titratable Hydrogen Ion Difference and its high altitude application. He then presented the new concept of Standarized Equivalent Sea Dive (SESD) factor for use during high altitude diving. Mathematically the formula considers the Nitrogen and Density ratio at different altitudes and easily adjusts to allow the use of common sea level diving tables. Hence a 30 m dive in Lake Titicaca corresponds to 47.8 m at sea level. A scientific paper was published in Research in Sports Medicine.

In order to read the Abstract at Pubmed click below:

Paulev PE, Zubieta-Calleja G. High altitude diving depths. Res Sports Med. 2007 Jul-Sep;15(3):213-23

If you would like to create a high altitude diving table please visit:

High Altitude Diving Tables

The Zubieta University proudly presents the new Poul-Erik Paulev High Altitude Laboratory, open to anyone interested in pursuing research related to high altitude diving in the Lake Titicaca (1 hour from La Paz) and also up to Lake Licancabur "the highest diving lagoon in the world". We welcome theoretical studies and discussions with Prof. Paulev, for the constant improvement of diving science.

Prof. Dr. Gustavo Zubieta-Castillo (Sr) & Prof. Dr. Gustavo Zubieta-Calleja