An Underview Effect? Psycho-Social Impacts of Saturation Diving Among Aquanauts

Abstract

Aquanauts—people who live and work underwater for extended periods—have anecdotally reported cognitive shifts in how they perceive the ocean environment and their role in it. This experience bears resemblance to the cognitive shift astronauts have experienced when first seeing our planet from space, dubbed “The Overview Effect.” This shift involves an intense feeling of awe that increases astronauts’ sense of connection to humanity and the entire planet. In this study, we used semi-structured interviews with aquanauts to document their experiences living underwater. Results show that aquanauts do indeed experience shifts in cognitive, affective, behavioral, perspectival, and relational areas that strengthen feelings of connectedness and commitment to the marine environment. However, the effects of the experience varied between aquanauts, indicating a potential “Underview Effect” that may occur on a spectrum of intensity with a number of core features.

Introduction

Oceans face severe challenges including overfishing, rising sea levels, acidification, increasing temperatures, pollution and habitat destruction. The UN has declared 2021 to 2030 the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (Polejack, 2021), coinciding with other calls to transform humanity’s relationship with our oceans and to recognize the vital role they play in a sustainable future for humanity and the more-than-human world (Bender et al., 2022; Rudolph et al., 2020; Stoll-Kleemann, 2019). People’s relationship with our oceans mirror the myriad positive, negative, and often contradictory connections humankind has with nature more generally, and an analysis of human perceptions and attitudes towards oceans can help promote ocean literacy (Stoll-Kleemann, 2019), guide policy, facilitate environmental rehabilitation and sustainable practices, and foster equitable access to the ocean’s many benefits (Allison et al., 2023).

Prior work shows that direct experience in “nature,” from spending time in protected wilderness and marine areas to hunting and fishing, including in the ocean, strongly influences the development of pro-environmental behaviors in a variety of contexts (Soga & Gaston, 2023; Varade et al., 2022). However, the impacts of time spent in nature can depend on the quality of the interaction and “time spent” is not always a simple predictor, for example, the type of activity and sociocultural context are critical components (Clayton et al., 2016). Prior literature has explored the types of experiences that may best facilitate profound shifts in one’s understanding of the self in relationship to the rest of the natural world (Yang et al., 2018). These experiences are often undergirded by a sense of awe, connectedness, and self-transcendence. One example of such a transformational experience is what astronauts have experienced when viewing earth from low-earth orbit for the first time, known as the “Overview Effect.”

The Overview Effect

Visits to outer space in the mid to late 20th century allowed people, for the first time in history, to see planet Earth in its entirety as one interconnected system. The cognitive shifts experienced by many astronauts in their perceptions of the connectedness of people and the entire planet—dubbed “The Overview Effect” by White (1998)—along with the ability to share this experience with non-astronauts, helped to launch the environmental movement and served as a touchpoint for global interdependence. A major implication of the Overview Effect is that the way we perceive the world cannot be divorced from our physical location in it. We argue that the severe challenges facing our oceans today calls for a similar shift in perception and investigate the potential for a phenomenon akin to The Overview Effect, but experienced underwater from the perspective of aquanauts, people who live on the ocean floor for extended periods.

White (2021) describes the Overview Effect as an expansion of one’s self-concept to include more aspects of the planet, intensifying the understanding of oneself as a small part of the vast, interconnected universe. In White’s (1998) original work on the topic, he identifies patterns linked with the experience: (1) an abiding concern and passion for the well-being of the Earth, (2) changed perceptions of space and time coupled with the experiential impact of silence and weightlessness, (3) an understanding that everything is interconnected and interrelated, (4) a higher level view-point, involving new awareness and consciousness, and (5) the recognized need for a stewardship perspective and a global participatory management of the planet. While such life-altering opportunity remains rare, White also makes it clear that it is possible to experience similar perspective shifts to the Overview Effect without going into outer space, and that the experience may occur in gradations of intensity. Indeed, prior work by philosopher Speed (2010) has proposed we develop a technological analogue akin to the Overview Effect using location-based technologies (i.e., GPS) that emphasize social connections over abstract mapping to develop a global sense of place while remaining on Earth’s surface. Comparatively little is known about how spending time underwater in marine environments, and the type of activity underwater, affects attitudes and behaviors toward the ocean (Allison et al., 2023; Ortenzi et al., 2025). Our study proposes a different kind of experience (an Underview Effect) centered on living underwater for extended periods. However, potentially like the Overview Effect, we hypothesize that aquanauts may develop a worldview of connectedness that facilitates a greater understanding of themselves as part of the larger planet, which can then be shared with broader audiences.

Humans Underwater: Scuba and Saturation Diving

The term aquanaut was coined to describe someone who has lived in an underwater habitat under saturation ¹ (at a depth of at least 16 m) for at least 24 hr, and has extended access to diving in the surrounding waters (see Figure 1). This immersive experience is not unlike space travel in the way it forces humans to exist in a physiologically hostile environment. Saturated divers, as the term implies, allow the blood gases in their body to come to equilibrium with the partial pressure of the gas mixture they are breathing at depth. Thus, if they return to the surface without first undergoing the slow process of controlled decompression they risk severe and usually fatal explosive decompression. As a result, the surface is no longer “safe” and a major thrust of training is to consider the pressurized habitat where they will spend all their time not spent in the water as “home base.” In this regard saturation diving is not unlike spaceflight, and indeed underwater habitats are frequently used to train astronauts because of the analogous physiological and psychological challenges experienced during a mission (Koutnik et al., 2021).

Figure 1.

Aquarius Underwater habitat (Photo credit to Kip Evans).

Living in an underwater habitat as an aquanaut differs in some important ways from surface based scuba diving. Saturated divers are able to spend extremely long times in the water (Figure 1), often lasting many hours as opposed to surface-based divers who must adhere to strict limits to reduce risk of decompression illness. Whereas commercial saturation divers live in a pressurized vessel that is brought to a surface ship each day, aquanauts remain on the ocean floor in an undersea habitat without coming to back to the surface (Figure 1). Thus, even while not in the water, aquanauts are still essentially immersed in the undersea environment, with continuous views of the surrounding ecosystems through large portholes in the saturation facility which is attached to the sea floor. Indeed, a favorite activity of aquanauts during their off hours inside the habitat is watching and listening to the marine life surrounding them.

Connection to Nature, Awe, and Self-Transcendent Experiences

To study whether an Underview Effect exists and what psycho-social implications it may have, we turned to the prior literature on the Overview Effect and transformative experiences in nature. Many researchers utilize the concept of Human-Nature Connectedness (NC) to study the shifts in ways humans relate to nature. NC is strongly associated with pro-environmental values, attitudes and behaviors (Mackay & Schmitt, 2019), and has been defined as an experiential, cognitive, and emotional sense of merging or interrelatedness between the self and nature (Capaldi et al., 2014; Mayer & Frantz, 2004; Schultz, 2002; Zylstra et al., 2014). The formation of a strong connection to nature may then involve a shift in the way one understands the self in relationship to the rest of the natural world (Lengieza & Swim, 2021). Transformational experiences that shift the fundamental self-nature relationship may also fall under the subset of experiences known as self-transcendent experiences—transient states characterized by: (1) a feeling of profound connectedness to people and the world beyond the self and/or (2) a decreased self-salience (Yaden et al., 2017). Recent work has identified four varieties of self-transcendent experiences that are linked to pro-environmental attitudes, values and behaviors; awe, flow, mindfulness, and psychedelic experiences (Akçakese et al., 2024; Cuzzolino, 2021; Isham et al., 2022; Zhao et al., 2018).

Awe is a self-transcendent emotion elicited by perceived experiences of vastness and incomprehension, which creates a need for cognitive restructuring, or accommodation of one’s mental frameworks or worldviews (Keltner & Haidt, 2003; Piff et al., 2015). Awe is thus considered a self-expansive or self-transcendent emotion in that it forces one to reassess and reorganize the mental models one holds about the self in relationship with the rest of the world, or shifts their prior concepts about the world (Keltner & Haidt, 2003). Studies of professional scientists in fields ranging from neuroscience to plant ecology to astrophysics have found awe to be a fundamental motivator of continual engagement in their work and the key to conceptual change or a furthering in their understanding of complexity in the natural world (Cuzzolino, 2021).

Scuba diving has also been found to facilitate another variety of self-transcendent experience: flow. Flow states are characterized by intense experiential involvement in an activity where the experience of time is forgotten, and a person performs at their peak capabilities (Csikszentmihalyi, 1975; Csikszentmihalyi et al., 2014). Flow states are achieved through a balance of challenge and skill, where one is optimally engaged by the challenge (preventing boredom) whilst feeling capable (thus not being overwhelmed by anxiety). Given their tendency for decreased self-salience and a merging between the self and the activity one is engaged in—flow states are often categorized as self-transcendent experiences. Using a recollection task on a live-aboard scuba dive cruise, Eisen (2021) found that states of awe and flow are common in immediately recalled experiences of scuba diving and are negatively correlated to anxiety. In addition, experiences of flow are positively correlated to feelings of connectedness, awe, and perceptions of vastness and altered time perception.

Mindfulness is defined as a deliberate mode of perceiving that consists of a curious, nonjudgmental attention to present moment experience, composed of external (sights, sounds, tastes, etc.) and internal sensations (thoughts, emotions, body sensations; Kabat-Zinn, 2001). Mindfulness has been strongly linked to increased NC, and many of the proposed mechanisms underlying this link related to shifts in attention regulation and self-referential processing (Hanley et al., 2017; Schutte & Malouff, 2018). Mindfulness, then, can be classified as a form of mental training that aims to develop self-awareness (meta-awareness), self-regulation (modulating one’s behavior), and self-transcendence (decreased rumination on self-focused needs and increases prosocial characteristics; Vago & Silbersweig, 2012).

Given these prior links between the varieties of self-transcendent experiences and nature-connectedness—we sought to examine whether aquanauts’ may have experienced a similar experience of self-transcendence and whether this shifted their relationship to the natural world.

Current Study

The goals of this study were to identify common psychological and behavioral elements of the experiences of aquanauts through in-depth, participant-driven interviews. We used a qualitative thematic content analysis approach to explore common themes that emerge across aquanauts. Specifically, we asked: (1) Are there psychological, social, and behavioral effects resulting from saturation diving, and if so, how do aquanauts characterize them? (2) What are the potential psychological or environmental roots of these effects? And (3) how does this compare to the Overview Effect? To our knowledge this is the first cognitive study to explore connectedness to nature among aquanauts.

We hypothesized that (1) living under saturation as an aquanaut would have psychological and behavioral effects similar to the Overview Effect, such as feeling more connected to the whole of the planet, and a renewed commitment to stewarding the natural world; (2) awe and a shift in their perception of time, space, and the self, would play a role in the Underview Effect, and (3), the Underview Effect may be tied to more specific connections to the ocean as opposed to the whole planet. Our research questions and hypotheses were derived from the prior work on the Overview Effect as well as Nature-Connectedness, Awe, and Self-Transcendent Experiences. However, we do not attempt to explicate causal relationships between variables or suggest these findings will extrapolate to all people’s experiences living underwater. Rather, we attempt to chart how living for extended periods underwater may facilitate changes in nature connectedness, commitment to and stewardship of marine ecosystems, and shifts in perspective about one’s place in the natural world.

Materials and Methods

Data Collection

Participants

To recruit participants, we utilized snowball sampling, leveraging one author’s experience as an aquanaut and connections within this community. We focused on aquanauts who have undergone saturation missions with the specific goal of conducting or supporting marine science research (or, in one instance, for training as an astronaut). We contacted 23 saturation divers identified via online research and/or networking, with 14 responding and agreeing to an interview (response rate: 61%). Our sample consisted of 11 men and 3 women, between the ages of 31 and 74 (M = 57.2), and included one aquanaut who also had experience as an astronaut. ² The average time since their last saturation mission was 16.5 years (range: 1 year to 35 years), and the total time spent in saturation in their careers was on average 38.8 days (range: 7 days to 130 days, with an average of 3 missions).

Procedures

Ethics approval was received by Northeastern University’s Institutional Review Board (#23-12-15). Data were collected between November 2023 and March 2024. All interviews were held on zoom, recorded, and conducted by the first author. The interviews were semi-structured; an initial set of open-ended questions was developed by the research team. Given the lack of empirical documentation of aquanauts’ experiences living underwater, we wanted to allow the interview content to be driven by aquanauts’ responses rather than adhering strictly to a set of predetermined questions, so follow up questions were asked based upon participant responses. At the end of the interview, participants were also invited to provide additional comments, information, or memories they felt were relevant to their experience of saturating. See the Supplementary Materials for interview questions.

Data Coding and Analysis

Transcribing Interviews

Transcripts for each interview were automatically generated by Zoom software. These were subsequently checked against the videotaped interviews by a human researcher to ensure accuracy. Coding was done directly from the transcripts; coders consulted the videotaped interviews for clarification as needed.

Generating Areas and Codes

This study applied a “codebook” thematic analysis, and each transcript’s content was thematically analyzed by the first and second authors using NVivo 12 Plus (Lumivero, 2017). The data analysis steps followed Braun and Clarke’s (2006) recommendations: (1) familiarizing ourselves with the data, (2) generating initial codes, (3) creating and collating codes into larger themes, (4) reviewing themes to determine how they fit in relation to the larger data set, and (5) defining, refining and finalizing themes and their subcodes (Nowell et al., 2017).

After extracting transcripts, the first author watched interview recordings to gain first impressions, make notes of responses, and identify common trends in participants’ experiences. The first author generated an initial set of codes to form a codebook for both coders to use. Ultimately this process led to a final set of 43 codes. Coders also organized codes into five broad areas representing overarching topical categories (Braun & Clarke, 2019). These areas, with brief explanations, are listed in Table 1.

Table 1.

Coding Areas.

Area	Explanation
Area 1: Cognitive changes	Changes in mental processes
Area 2: Affective and experiential changes	Changes in emotional experience and embodied states
Area 3: Behavioral changes	Changes in patterns of behavior
Area 4: Worldview and perspectives changes	Changes in understanding and interacting with the world.
Area 5: Relational changes	Changes in relationships with humans and/or nature.

Applying Codes to Interviews

After generating initial codes and a codebook, the first two authors independently coded all the transcripts. Passages where a coder judged an aquanaut’s response that corresponded to a code were marked using NVivo. There were no constraints on length of coded passages, and a single passage could be assigned multiple codes where appropriate. Coders met regularly to review the independently coded transcripts and resolve any differences. As transcripts were coded sequentially, the codes were continually refined using a constant comparative method (Boeije, 2002; Glaser & Strauss, 1998), with researchers returning to previous transcripts to review and update initial codes as the codebook evolved. After all transcripts were coded, the first two authors independently reviewed each coded transcript to ensure that codes were applied consistently.

Generating Themes

After all transcripts were coded, coders used a latent coding approach, which aims to capture and interpret the implicit meanings and potential causes underlying the explicit semantic content (Braun & Clarke, 2006), to identify themes, or patterns of shared meaning across the dataset underpinned by a central concept (Braun & Clarke, 2019). Rather than relying on a quantifiable and measurable criteria to identify a theme, a theme was considered meaningful if it brought together a pattern relevant to the research question (Nowell et al., 2017).

Results

Interviews ranged in length from 24 to 66 min, with an average time of 37.5 min. While the aquanauts we interviewed reported experiencing varying degrees of psychological change following their saturation missions and made meaning of their experience in different ways, shared themes emerged. When reporting divergent findings, we carefully considered and speculated on the potential reasons for such differences based on our contextual knowledge. A total of 43 codes were collated into 10 specific themes to concisely represent the patterns of findings across the participants.

Cognitive Changes

Figure 2 depicts the percentage of aquanauts who exhibited the specific codes falling under themes of changes in what they pay attention to and changes in qualities and states of attention . We discuss these themes and their specific codes below.

Figure 2.

Percentage of aquanauts mentioning different types of changes in what they paid attention to (dark bars, theme “changes in what aquanauts pay attention to”) and qualities and states of attention (light bars, theme “novel sensory and embodied experiences”).

Changes in What Aquanauts Pay Attention To

Most aquanauts (86%) reported that they began to notice aspects of their environment that they would not have noticed before living and working for an extended period underwater. For instance, 64% of interviewees mentioned fragility , reflecting a realization of the precariousness and vulnerability of earth’s ecosystems, especially from human activities (see Table 2). Living underwater also seems to have encouraged systems thinking, allowing them to notice the cycles, dynamics and rhythms (29%) of the ecosystem across larger time-scales and to see the immense complexity and interactions between the system’s parts (43%; see Table 2). Living as an aquanaut may encourage this understanding of marine ecosystem’s complexity more than surface-based diving, or learning in a classroom or laboratory setting. One aquanaut [H] noted, “I think, seeing the changes is what you don’t see. It’s sort of like a snapshot versus a video,” comparing surface-based diving to living in the underwater habitat.

Table 2.

Cognitive Changes.

Code (number of instances observed)	Example(s)/description
Theme “Changes in what aquanauts pay attention to”
Fragility (18)	[Aquanaut C]: You know, it’s a way to really gain appreciation for the fragility of nature, but also the gift of life, I think. [Aquanaut G]: You understand the fragility of the planet, and you understand the fragility of things you may have seen over time. You see things change. . . . You know it’s unfortunate, even just us visiting there, we do have some impact in certain cases, no matter how you’re accessing that environment.
Cycles, dynamics, and rhythms (6)	[Aquanaut H]: Maybe what it does is it opens one’s eyes to the marine system as just as variable and dynamic and changing as any other terrestrial system that you’re familiar with. It’s just we don’t get the chance to be that familiar with the ocean environments. [Aquanaut M]: . . . being surrounded by water and getting to walk on the seafloor. That rhythm. The ocean has so many cycles, and we have our heartbeat. We have to cycle of the sun, and then the ocean. It compounds that with the motion of waves underwater, and then your breath.
Immense complexity and interactions between system parts (13)	[Aquanaut J]: You have the opportunity when you’re submersed for that amount of time to really look at the ecology and really look at how the ecosystem is functioning, and you would only get glimpses of that, you know, diving from the surface. [Aquanaut G]: Your world is more expansive. You understand that there are processes and things that are happening around the clock and these interactions . . . I think you gain a new appreciation for the environment and ecosystem parts because you’ve been there in real time.
Details of their surroundings environment and animals (14)	[Aquanaut M]: It was so tiny and so well camouflaged . . . and I was looking at the same spot in the sand for, like probably more than 2 min, which is a long time to stare at a blank pot of sand, and I would never do that on a normal dive. On a normal dive it’s like—oh, I hope I see something big. I hope it’s your shark, or a big . . . even in daily life you would never just stare at, you know, out the window for 2 min. And then that’s when I saw that super camouflage stream. So moments like that I wouldn’t have on a normal dive. And I guess even in nature, too, I’m often not just staring at something. We can have little moments like that here on land, because it’s our environment. But underwater is so rare. [Aquanaut B]: I mean the big takeaway is that we go through life with this soda straw, you know. We’re just walking around with a very, very limited understanding. I mean, some of that’s obvious. . . . we don’t know what’s going on in our own bodies. . . . we’re not consciously aware of the different processes on a cellular level . . . And so the entire universe is that way where there’s infinitely more that we’re not paying attention to, that we’re not conscious of. That’s happening right in front of us that we don’t see. And we are perfectly content with walking around with this really limited subset of reality and thinking it’s the whole picture. It’s like it’s laughable. How little we actually process.
Change in the quality and states of attention
Flow (12)	[Aquanaut F]: So, we were intensely watching what the creatures were doing, you know, the corals and the plankton and other things, and so we would be absorbed in that for hours of just . . . watching what they were doing, trying to get pictures of it, trying to get our measurements, and the time would go by very quickly. I remember there’s some of these long night dives. We would go through 3 sets of double cylinders. So it would be, you know, many hours. [Aquanaut B]: It was effortless cultivation. It was just going with the flow of the experience [Aquanaut E]: Yeah, I definitely felt less preoccupied on those longer saturation dives compared to my . . . general, all-above-water mindset. And . . . while I was doing, . . . tank diving, which is always like, okay, what’s next? What’s next? . . . Maybe that’s why I really like scuba diving, too, because I live my life kind of like always looking just a step ahead. But I do have very, very fond memories of not feeling that kind of . . . next next next mindset while I was saturated and that I was able to kind of be much more relaxed and present in those experiences than I normally recall with scuba diving.
Focus (14)	[Aquanaut F]: I think, in that sense, the fact that you’re isolated from the rest of the world is a good thing to help your concentration and your thinking about things.” You’re not distracted by other things . . . I think you tend not to carry a lot of extra baggage. [Aquanaut J]: Once you kind of get into this zone you’re able to really focus and look at very, very small things like you’re noticing the zooplankton around the corals. Those are tiny. . . .. You can witness all that, but you have to be super calm and very focused on the small to do that. And saturation diving for me was a way to get into that zone very quickly.
Self-transcendent experience (8)	[Aquanaut G]: You know, you just want to stay out there and be one . . . it’s [the ocean] so diverse, so large, so encompassing. That’s where you transcend, I think, into something, because you’re almost like . . . you know you’re not like a visitor any longer. It’s like you belong there. And if you’re really comfortable, it’s just . . . all-embracing. And . . . you’re meant to be there.
Lack of time pressure (35)	[Aquanaut G]: When I say time pressure—whether you’re limited by your air consumption, you’re limited by bottom time. You might have thermal issues or constraints. You might have logistics like trying to meet a boat topside, weather conditions, and all that kind of stuff. In saturation, you’re kind of removed from those burdens, so to speak. [Aquanaut D]: . . . the ability to just tune everything out. Turn your comms off, be on hard hat, be on infinite gas, meaning you don’t have to rush back, rush to the surface and just sit there and just watch nature unfold in front of you. Watch these amazing behaviors, watch the dynamics of the ocean
Prior preparation and feeling supported (21)	[Aquanaut G]: I mean, you could run out of air. But you’re given tools and things to take that kind of chattering monkey off your back. Because you get double the gas that you need. You’ve got unlimited bottom time. You’ve got things, and you’re trained and prepared to do things, and that enhances that experience, from a working standpoint. You’re kind of one with the environment, you’re operating at a very high level and a very safe level. And you’re not constrained by the other problems of the saturation versus the non saturation bounce diving. [Aquanaut M]: I don’t remember there being stress from unknown stuff like we had prepared and trained for it. I don’t remember being too stressed at all, because well, again, we’d prepared for it . . . so there wasn’t any stress from feeling like . . . I don’t remember feeling worried, for example, or people asked me all the time if I was scared and I wasn’t scared. I mean, I felt like we trained for this, like we were in really good hands.
Task orientation as a barrier to connection (19)	[Aquanaut I]: Everything was always very task focused. You know, it’s great to go diving and see the fish and see all these great things. But it’s very different when you’re actually working underwater. And you know you have something to get done. [Aquanaut G]: You’re really kind of always task loaded, depending on no matter what aspect you’re in. So it’s good to stop and smell the roses, . . . every once in a while, to understand and appreciate where you’re at. It’s a balance . . . between the experience and the role.

In addition to changes in perception of system dynamics, aquanauts became more attuned to the details of the surrounding environments and animals on a finer, more resolved scale (64%; see Table 2). Aquanauts commented that this heightened awareness was made possible by the extended periods during which they could observe their surroundings, providing opportunities not available on shorter dives, including repeatedly visiting certain underwater locales. Moreover, many aquanauts connected this ability to pick up on new details to the lack of demands on one’s attention as compared to their daily life.

Change in the Quality and States of Attention

Not only did we find a pattern of change amongst what aquanauts paid attention to, but we also saw shifts in how they paid attention. For example, many (64%) aquanauts frequently reported becoming deeply engrossed in and engaged with their work. Some of these states qualify as states of flow , characterized by intense experiential involvement in an activity where the experience of time is forgotten, and a person performs at their peak capabilities (Csikszentmihalyi et al., 2014; Table 2). Not only are these experiences of heightened absorption, but they are also subjectively experienced as positive. Flow states are achieved through a balance of challenge and skill, where one is optimally engaged by the challenge (preventing boredom) whilst feeling capable (thus not being overwhelmed by anxiety, Csikszentmihalyi et al., 2014). Other descriptors arose describing a change in the qualities of attention, including feeling less distracted or preoccupied and more keenly focused , peaceful and effective. Both flow and focus were states of attention frequently experienced by a majority of aquanauts (mentioned by 64% and 57% of our sample, respectively).

Some aquanauts (21%) also reported having a shift in their sense of self, that is, a self-transcendent experience (see Table 2). Self-transcendent experiences are transient states characterized by a feeling of profound connectedness to people and the world beyond the self and/or a decreased self-salience (Yaden et al., 2017). Flow states often lead to experiences of self-transcendence, given their tendency for decreased self-salience and a merging between the self and the activity in which one is engaged (Csikszentmihalyi, 1992; Yaden et al., 2017). The most fundamental and frequent code (79%) that emerged from this theme was the lack of time pressure relative to normal surface dives, because aquanauts have no need to return to the surface within a constrained time frame. Many aquanauts reported that this made the experience fundamentally different from surface-based scuba dives (Table 2). There were also circumstances besides the lack of time pressure that enabled the experience of flow, or alternatively, a “letting go” with feeling less anxiety or preoccupied attention. These included prior preparation, a strong level of expertise and comfort in the water, and feeling supported by the entire team and top-side crew (prior preparation and feeling supported, 79%). Aquanauts also reported that their comfort in the water, prior preparation, and top-side support facilitated changes in states of attention. One aquanaut noted the connection between feeling comfortable in the water and experiencing self-transcendence: Many people that go in don’t feel that. You know, they’re nervous. They’re scared . . . they don’t go past that point where you become that one being in that environment [G].

In contrast to the common theme of experiencing a positive shift due to a lack of time pressure, some aquanauts also reported feeling overburdened by work and thereby distanced from their surroundings, reflecting task orientation as a barrier to connection . In this mode, aquanauts could only focus on the task at hand and lost the bigger picture and context of the experience (see Table 2, 50%). This narrowing of focus was not inevitable in a task-oriented situation; some aquanauts did their work in states of flow and focus, feeling degrees of effortlessness, and aquanauts often reported that they could move in and out of these different modes of attention and find more ease in their observations despite being task-loaded.

Affective and Experiential Changes

Figure 3 depicts the percentage of aquanauts who exhibited specific codes falling under themes of strong, positive memories and emotions and novel sensory and embodied experiences . We discuss these themes and their specific codes below.

Figure 3.

Percentage of aquanauts mentioning different types of changes in strong, positive memories and emotions (dark bars) and novel sensory and embodied experiences (light bars).

Strong, Positive Memories, and Emotions

Aquanauts almost universally reported positive memories of saturation, with a range of different emotions arising during the mission. Positive emotions fell into two subthemes: self-transcendent emotions of wonder, awe, and gratitude and more generally positive emotions such as joy and a sense of tranquility. Wonder, awe, and gratitude are considered self-transcendent emotions because they direct attention outwards and are not bound by self-interest. They lead people to “transcend their own momentary needs and desires and focus on those of another” (Stellar et al., 2017). Over 70% of aquanauts we talked to described their most vivid memories of saturating as eliciting awe (see Table 3). Many aquanauts (79%) also expressed an immense gratitude towards their surroundings. This could often expand into appreciating nature as a whole and the immense complexity of nature as a system of support for keeping all beings in it alive (Squire, 2020). One aquanaut described how this appreciation for the surrounding environment continued even after saturation, extending into daily life (see Table 3).

Table 3.

Affective and Experiential Changes.

Code (number of instances observed)	Example(s)
Strong, positive memories, and emotions
Awe (25)	[Aquanaut D]: And that was just amazing to me. It was like the first time you walk into a cathedral on a sunny day. When you see those beautiful shafts of colored lights . . . the brightness and beauty, and just that kind of awe-inspiring stunning nature of the experience was the way I felt in that kelp forest. [Aquanaut N]: It was like a magical experience. It was. It was totally awesome. [Aquanaut D]: You’d sneak a few minutes to just sit there and just be in awe of nature, awe and . . .. feel just a sense of well-being.
Gratitude (30)	[Aquanaut J]: It gave me a lot of respect for the ecosystem itself. And then the other thing is just a fundamental appreciation for the ocean . . . And then, once the understanding came, the appreciation for how complex things are. The two main things is just a fundamental appreciation that . . . nothing is easy and nothing happens fast, in terms of how these ecosystems evolved or or came to be. [Aquanaut D]: . . . there’s a protective aspect of that as well. A conservation aspect, I guess, an appreciation for the value of nature and for the life support system that the undersea world is. [Aquanaut B]: what I took away . . . was a greater appreciation for the countless miracles that surround us every moment of every day.
Wonder (40)	[Aquanaut D]: Every dive is a good dive, right? And every dive there’s always something to see, it’s always you know, kind of a soap opera unfolding in front of your eyes. You know I could . . . spend my entire scuba dive on a square meter of area, and see just fascinating stuff that . . . you know just opens your consciousness [Aquanaut D]: And that to me was pure observation. It wasn’t that we were filming. We weren’t doing science around this. This was TV, . . . this was our channel, this was our movie. We were watching . . .. but you know, purely on a kid’s curiosity level. It was fascinating and so there were moments like this that will be indelible in the memories of that experience.
Challenge heightens engagement (17)	[Aquanaut N]: When I just do a recreational dive and I just look at stuff, I kind of get bored after a while. I mean, it’s cool, you’ll see stuff . . . But for me it’s way more fun to go down with a task and say, Okay, we gotta you know do this new thing. [Aquanaut E]: It pushed me past the point of comfort and into like an ‘Oh, my God! This is overwhelming!’ But it’s such an amazing and cool kind of experience that just was a real hook for me to wanna go back and continue to do more, and helped me feel like I had the confidence to try and push beyond some of my current boundaries . . . just the feeling of confidence and empowerment with my body. And I was doing these really challenging things, I really felt happy about and strong. [Aquanaut M]: Yeah, there’s almost something that we crave, though, about that challenge . . . There is something resetting, refreshing about that.
Joy (32)	[Aquanaut D]: . . . the pure elation and excitement that a child has when they’re opening up a Christmas gift for the very first time. [Aquanaut N]: . . . mostly it was emotions of joy and enthusiasm more than anything else
Tranquility (36)	[Aquanaut M]: I think there’s just a sense of peace and harmony with nature that comes. [Aquanaut K]: I’m a department head, and it’s . . . a pretty stressful job. And so when I go underwater, it’s just whoo! It’s very relaxing for me. It is my Zen . . . I’ve just zoned out very nicely. I find it very restful and very relaxing. [Aquanaut F]: I love the experience. It just felt so natural to . . .. be underwater and just stay there. And it was very, I would say it was very calming
Novel sensory and embodied experiences
Immersiveness (36)	[Aquanaut M]: It’s very engaging, and it’s almost like stepping out of your normal day to day experience and being in this immersive, immersive world. [Aquanaut E]: your ability to be connected with the organisms or systems, the physicality of whatever you’re studying, being immersed in it. It is something that is more easily attainable with a lot of other research. And the saturation experience is one that really does place you, immerses you, in the ecosystem that you want to study, . . . Otherwise, when scuba diving it’d be, I feel like akin to just like being tethered to like a helicopter, and having to like tethered, down to the jungle floor and do your research, and you only have an hour to do it, and then you gotta zip back up . . . And so being able to just stop and be really does give you that connectivity that you otherwise don’t get to experience while diving.
Boundarylessness and oneness (5)	[Aquanaut G]: Many people that go in don’t feel that. You know, they’re nervous. They’re scared . . . people that you know whether it’s at the beach or whatever—they don’t . . . go past that point where you become that one being in that environment. [Aquanaut G]: you almost become one in the environment. And I don’t know if it’s . . . Yeah, but it gets through your skin. You’re just the warmth, the embrace, you know, of the water or the ocean and things. So you compound that like tenfold when you’re in saturation. You know, you just want to stay out there and be one.
Weightlessness (8)	[Aquanaut F]: You’re not constrained by gravity any longer. You’re kind of weightless. You move fairly independently without challenges. [Aquanaut J]: One of the things that allows you to be so calm is you’re neutrally buoyant. You don’t have to worry about gravity, really. And . . . so that makes it more special when you come back up. But then the second part is just the, I like the weightlessness. I like, you know, the 3 dimensional movement.
Senses being somewhat dulled (9)	[Aquanaut G]: [the narcosis] has a kind of a calming effect, it tends to change your senses a little bit. Just takes some of the 5 senses. You kind of still have your senses there, but they’re dulled to some degree, or they change somewhat. It’s you know more of a quiet, tranquil kind of experience. . . . I swear I could lay down on the bottom of the pool and close my eyes and fall asleep. I’m not sure if everybody has that level of comfort. You start losing your sense of taste and smell, which is actually a good thing. Believe it or not, not losing it all the way. But definitely, those senses go dull.
Sensory overload upon return to surface (5)	[Aquanaut J]: that sense of peace where . . . you’re not hearing cars. You’re not hearing noise. You’re not hearing people speak for hours on end. It’s really neat, it’s a good reality check that doesn’t always have to be so busy . . . And then you . . . come back and you’re almost overwhelmed, and you feel really like, I need people to go away, or I need to go for a walk or something, because you can’t just jump back into normal society easily.
Comfortable in their bodies (14)	[Aquanaut J]: . . . the evidence for that is when you first, that first day of saturation diving, air consumption’s higher [than] by the end of the mission. Air consumption’s really much, much lower, and that’s just a matter of being very comfortable. And that’s a really good feeling when you’re that attuned to the capabilities of the equipment. It’s a really nice feeling, you’re not fighting against your gear, you know it’s just part of who you are now. And that’s a really comforting feeling. [Aquanaut K]: I have taken naps on scuba underwater. I’ve laid down in the sand, and I’m able to control my metabolism, control my pulse and my blood pressure, and . . . I find it very restful and very relaxing.
Bodily discomfort (26)	[Aquanaut I]: Everyone is uncomfortable. You don’t sleep very well. When you’re saturated it’s difficult for your body to rest. [Aquanaut D]: Physically it’s extraordinarily punishing. We were diving 8 to 12 hours a day. So it’s exhausting. We were burning over 3 times as many calories as we do on land. That’s physically also very trying. [Aquanaut F]: You start getting tired because of the constant work and lack of sleep and everything else.
Stress (11)	[Aquanaut D]: I am never in the moment, so to speak, very rarely. Because of all the bombardment of information and things that need to be managed, and decisions that need to be made, and so on and so forth. [Aquanaut E]: We’re so jam packed with connecting with the surface teams, doing, you know, downloading photos, uploading data. Doing a couple of interviews with school groups. You know, it was so jam packed that it certainly wasn’t relaxing.

Many respondents (64%) expressed wonder about the environment around them. To qualify as wonder, the state requires both a positive, uplifting emotional tone and induces an “awareness of expanded possibilities and their passionate exploration” (Bazhydai & Westermann, 2020, p. 155). Aquanauts described the wonder of watching the marine animals outside the habitat window in the evenings, with no other purpose than to marvel at them (Squire, 2020). Aquanauts frequently (64%) noted that the challenge that saturation provided heightened their engagement . For many, saturation was a new technical challenge, even though all had extensive experience as scientific divers. Although the level of expertise and the demands of a saturation mission would challenge anyone, these aquanauts almost universally expressed feeling invigorated and excited by the challenge (see Table 3). One aquanaut said it was like “getting a shot of caffeine [D].” Aquanauts also expressed appreciation for how the challenge made them grow as scientists and people; one even connected that experience of challenge as satisfying a human need, a craving we have for mastery of skills.

Aquanauts frequently experienced enjoyment as well as tranquility (both 71%). One aquanaut [D] described their initial descent to the habitat as “the pure elation and excitement that a child has when they’re opening up a Christmas gift for the very first time” and “mostly it was emotions of joy and enthusiasm more than anything else.” There were also frequent reports of tranquility during their time diving outside the habitat. Synonyms used were peace, harmony, serenity and calmness. This tranquility was often said to arise from an individual’s ability to be present in the moment with their attention engrossed in the sensory environment.

Novel Sensory and Embodied Experiences

When asked to elaborate on the moments of tranquility described above, aquanauts often placed them in the context of describing embodied, sensory experiences in the present moment. Several emergent themes related to the novelty of the sensory environment of living underwater. The immersiveness of the experience added to its uniqueness, meaningfulness, and significance, and often heightened the emotional experience, making what aquanauts took away or learned from saturation something that couldn’t just be taught in a traditional classroom but had to be felt, experienced, and embodied (reported by 79% of sample). Reports of boundarylessness and oneness describe a continuity between the aquanauts’ bodies and the ocean around them (Squire, 2016), with some describing it as “feeling like . . . you and the environment [are] continuous” [H] (reported by 14% of sample). Likewise, weightlessness that aquanauts reported included feeling unconstrained by gravity, finally being able to move independently without any challenges (reported by 36%). A common aspect of these positive embodied experiences was feeling comfortable in their bodies , which about half of the aquanauts remarked upon (see Table 3, 50%).

Another novel sensory experience involved many aquanauts reporting instances of their senses being somewhat dulled (43%) due to the pleasant, almost numbing effect—similar to slight alcohol intoxication—of breathing nitrogen under high pressure. The exact mechanism of this “nitrogen narcosis” is not entirely understood, but it typically happens when diving to depths greater than about 120 feet and disappears upon ascending to shallower depths. Many divers report having experienced it on deep dives, though its extent varies. It is also frequently reported by divers living in saturation. At a minimum, it can interfere with concentration, and at its worst it can lead to irrational behavior or even loss of consciousness. Given the dulled senses, and the silence of the underwater environment, some aquanauts report sensory overload upon return to the surface (36%). This stems from both the return of their acuity and the sudden bombardment of increased stimuli and inputs.

Saturation diving can also involve bodily discomfort , including exhaustion and disrupted circadian rhythms or sleep patterns (71%). For some, bodily and physical discomfort sometimes led to emotions of stress , whereas others found the mission itself to be stressful, regardless of their comfortability while diving (43%). However, they often described these challenges with a degree of detachment, indicating that the difficulties were worth enduring for the mission they were on. Moreover, although mention of stress was common, experiences of peace were more memorable and poignant.

Behavioral Changes

Apart from emotional and cognitive shifts during the direct experience of saturation, aquanauts also experienced a change in their understanding of themselves and the work they did outside of the saturation diving context. This often led to behavioral shifts and meaningful changes in the broader context of their lives. Figure 4 depicts the percentage of aquanauts who exhibited the specific codes falling under themes Meaningful and Significant for Personal Life and Significant for Science.

Figure 4.

Percentage of aquanauts mentioning different types of changes that had meaning in their personal lives (dark bars) and changes that were significant for science (light bars).

Meaningful and Significant for Personal Life

Saturation often served as an affirmation and strengthened aquanauts’ prior commitments not only to science but also to protecting and serving the marine environment, as well as changing or reaffirming their life path ( reported by 93 and 36% of sample, respectively). This affirmation and strengthening of environmental investment was the single most frequent code in our sample (93%), indicating the pervasive impact of saturation diving on aquanauts’ connection and commitment to environmental and marine science (see Table 4).

Table 4.

Behavioral Changes.

Code (number of instances observed)	Example(s)
Meaningful/significant for personal life
Affirmation/strengthening prior commitments to the environment (33)	[Aquanaut F]: And I think I already had the strong sort of environmental background environmental feelings, you know concerns about what’s happening to the planet definitely but more, of an intense interest in finding out about living creatures and what they’re doing. . . . So that probably started out with only a small awareness of the problems happening in the world at that time. But that just grew over time . . . So it reinforced it rather than started it. [Aquanaut M]: I feel kind of like a duty or an honor to share that perspective that I gained while living underwater, so that it can help others. [Aquanaut K]: It didn’t change my attitude towards marine life, my attitude more towards marine life in the ocean was, . . . and remained what it was, which was very, you know, very loving and soulful
Life path (14)	[Aquanaut M]: A lot changed, it was a profound experience, and it has changed me. It shaped my path . . . I just feel like it’s been my life calling, and what I had in that unique experience really cemented it. [Aquanaut N]: Wow, this is one of the experiences that sort of justifies the whole effort to . . . get into marine science. So it’s not like an outward facing. Wow! Here’s what this means for the world, because I saw this. But it’s more like this is what it means for me that I got to go do this.
Significant for science
Sharing experiences for educational/inspirational purposes (23)	[Aquanaut M]: It just meant we could do so much more research, and experiments, but it also meant we had a story. And even to this day, what? 10 years later, people ask me questions all the time about what it was like to live underwater . . . I feel that I have a unique honor to be able to share the stories from this experience I’ve had, and people want to listen because it’s not something you hear every day. and I feel kind of like a duty or an honor to share that perspective that I gained while living underwater, so that it can help others understand the ocean, be excited about the ocean, and be also not scared of the ocean.
Impossible to learn without saturation (24)	[Aquanaut I]: So the habitat became this necessary tool to do the advanced science that we were trying to do at the time, and it made it . . . It was fundamental. We had huge jobs to do, and there was no way we could do it with regular diving. So we had to saturate to get the job done, you know. And that’s how I kind of approached it. [Aquanaut D]: because of our schedule, because of the opportunity, because of the leveraging of the coefficients of time at the bottom of the sea as opposed to any other medium . . .. we were able to do over 3 years equivalent scientific research in those 31 days as opposed to a team from the surface, diving down [Aquanaut N]: The amazing piece of it was the research piece, the like feeling of being more connected to doing research than most of the dive research I’ve done before, because you were able to think about it and talk about it while you were still in it . . . in the habitat you could think about the it as an ongoing research that just kept going and going.

Significant for Science

Aquanauts also frequently described a realization of how informative and instructive saturation diving was both to science and to aquanauts’ and the broader public’s understanding of the world and our place in it. One common theme was things that would be impossible to learn without saturating (71%). Aquanauts specifically referred to saturation as opening the possibility to answer new scientific questions, such as understanding the mechanism of internal waves or understanding how schools of fish may communicate and interact. Seeing the patterns that unfold throughout the course of an entire day or month was repeatedly referred to as an experience that couldn’t be replaced or simulated. Aquanauts also describe how having access to saturation diving not only enabled them to conduct more advanced science and observe hard-to-capture phenomena, but also made them better scientists. They were compelled to ask better questions and become deeply engaged and immersed in their research in ways they never had before. Many also expressed a renewed interest in sharing their experiences for educational and inspirational purposes (71%). That is, beyond being a well-suited tool for scientific endeavors, aquanauts also describe the importance of saturation diving in educating others and engaging the public with marine ecosystems, fostering a sense of connection or intrigue toward the marine environment.

Worldview and Perspective Changes

Aquanauts regularly described changes in their worldviews and perspectives, encompassing how they understood, conceptualized, and interacted with the world before and after saturation. This transformation is expressed through systems of knowledge, practices, and beliefs (Pascual et al., 2023). See percentages of the codes that fell under the themes Egocentric to Ecocentric Perspective and Time Course of Transformations in Figure 5.

Figure 5.

Percentage of aquanauts mentioning different types of worldview and perspective changes regarding egocentric to ecocentric perspectives (dark bars) and time courses of transformation (light bars).

Egocentric to Ecocentric Perspective

The egocentric perspective refers to a “self-centered preoccupation with internal, private events, constraining the sense of self within the physical body’s boundary” (Hanley et al., 2020, p. 4), whereas an ecocentric perspective views nature as deserving of moral consideration for its own sake. In our case, we refer to the ecocentric perspective as relating to the “ecological self,” a construct defined by Naess (1994) and further refined by philosophers in the Deep Ecology movement, whereby we embrace our connection to all of life and have an innate, default awareness and understanding that we too are nature, not separate or superior to it (Albrecht, 2020; Bragg, 1996). This change was apparent in several emergent themes. Aquanauts frequently expressed empathy with marine life (57%), engaging in perspective-taking, perceiving kinship, and seeing themselves as equal to the creatures they encountered and part of the ecosystem (see Table 5). This is in opposition to the dominant paradigm of human exceptionalism in most Western ontologies of man and nature, which posits humans as separate and superior to the rest of the natural world (Kim et al., 2023). Aquanauts also demonstrated their increased understanding of our interdependence with the rest of the planet, especially the ocean (see Table 5, 64%). They not only recognized humans’ interdependence with the natural world but also expressed feeling small , or re-situated humans in a broader context, understanding that we are just one small part of a larger ecosystem—a vast web of life (see Table 5, 43%).

Table 5.

Worldview and Perspective Changes.

Code (number of instances observed)	Example(s)
Egocentric to ecocentric perspective
Understanding our interdependence (18)	[Aquanaut A]: I realized that every drop of water that was going by with all the plankton was connected to everything else in the ocean that is. You know we are a water planet, and that you can feel that when you become an aquanaut, because you’re . . . outside so much . . . . And yes, the overview effect is the real thing where you suddenly feel very tiny with respect to the earth. And I think there’s a similar thing in the ocean that you know, that’s maybe [what] I was alluding to before when I was looking at the plankton outside at night and realizing, okay, every, all these drops of water connect all the way around the planet. And this is one system that I’m privileged to be immersed in for the next week to 10 days, or however long it was.
Feeling small (10)	[Aquanaut D]: You’d sneak a few minutes to just sit there and just be in awe of nature . . . feeling so insignificant in the universe and yet feeling so blessed. And to be able to feel that, that’s how I felt underwater in saturation. It’s just fascinating, and there’s so much nuance that we don’t know; we know we’ve explored only 5% of the ocean world to this day. It carries virtually all life that we’ve ever, that we know of, that we’ve ever known, that we will probably know in our lifetimes. [Aquanaut M]: One component of that is the the scale of how big the ocean really is, and you know you do this Aquarius thing, and you feel like, there’s a big deal, and it’s not a big deal at all relative to how much is going on out out there in the ocean. So definitely a sense of being very small. I’d say it’s humbling.
Feeling empathy for marine life (17)	[Aquanaut A]: . . . you have the luxury of getting to know the denizens, you know, your neighbors underwater. You . . . . get to know the fish as individuals, because, just like people we, we don’t think of fish as having personalities, but . . . a lot of vertebrates have them . . . We all have complex behaviors and you can start to pick up on that when you’re seeing the same fish, day in, day out, when you go out to your study sites, and ‘Oh, I am a marine mammal of a kind. I’m just a technological marine mammal.’
Panoramic view (12)	[Aquanaut G]: [talking about saturation] Then you can really, that’s where you really open up like the panoramic view of doing—You go from a kind of a tunnel vision focus because of time pressure to more of a panoramic view of your, you and the environment, your surroundings
Time course of transformations
Sudden shift (3)	[Aquanaut A]: It’s like, you know, a switch is flipped and it’s very sudden.
Graduate change (8)	[Aquanaut G]: I think it kind of came in time. I don’t think it was like a light switch type moment. You know, there’s not really a time you get away from it all or have this fundamental significant change and perspective. But instead of having a ‘Oh, wow!’ You know, it kind of comes in . . . spurts, you know.
Persistent change (12)	[Aquanaut B]: Yeah, I mean, there are moments of sublime realization of the awe and wonder that you’re experiencing and beauty. But I described the overall effect as an epiphany in slow motion. So it’s not a light bulb that comes on, you know, you hear the choir of angels, and all this stuff. I think it’s just a gradual unfolding for me. I can’t speak for anybody else. It had a gradual effect over months. Where? A deep understanding and deep appreciation developed and a deep sense, a lot . . . It not only endured it, it grew. It was a seed that was planted and grew. And we’re onto a big big tree because that was just step one along the journey right? . . . But the more of the experience that I process, the deeper that understanding became, and the more radical the shift was. And it’s on an exponential curve.
Impermanent change (1)	[Aquanaut C]: It sort of wears off over time. And you, you eventually, you know, fall back into your old patterns of . . . being you know, less tolerant of being in traffic jams, or whatever . . . the thing might be.
Not transformative (16)	[Aquanaut K]: Great experiences. I would say it was a salient experience. But . . . did it, you know completely, you know, rock my world and change my life? I would not say so.

Finally, more than half of the aquanauts described a tendency to take a panoramic or birdseye view of the planet (57%). This involved taking a step back and reflecting on the individual’s, as well as humanity’s, place within a larger context. Some aquanauts took a more meta-perspective to their scientific inquiries, considering larger systems-level perspectives. Overall, these experiences led them to a broader perspective on humanity’s place on the planet, fostering a deeper and more accurate understanding of interdependencies and the relative role their lives play in the broader context of the world.

Time Course of Transformations

Aquanauts’ experiences of transformation varied in how they unfolded over time, with some describing it as a sudden shift , like flicking a switch, while others described it as a more gradual change (see Table 5, 14 and 29%, respectively). Likewise, some describe the transformation as persistent , whereas one aquanaut saw the changes as impermanent (7%), likening it to an “afterglow” effect that wears off. It’s important to note that transformative experiences were not universal; a minority of aquanauts described the experience as non-transformative albeit memorable (see Table 5). They described the experience as being reaffirming but not life-changing, indicating that it did not have a lasting impact.

Relational Changes

The last area impacted by aquanauts’ experiences was in the realm of relationships. These relational impacts included the existential and spiritual, the physical environment, the social-altruistic, and the professional (team-based). See percentages of the codes and themes in Figure 6.

Figure 6.

Percentage of aquanauts mentioning different types of relational changes regarding their connection to something large (dark bars) and feelings of disconnection (light bars).

Feelings of Separation

In some cases (21%), saturation lead to feelings of disconnection rather than connection. One way these manifested was detachment and hostility towards the surface. Such feelings were first observed by Dr. George Bond, the Navy Doctor who oversaw the Sealab program and who first conceived of the concept of saturation diving (Bond, 1993). He termed it the “Aquanaut breakaway Phenomena.” He observed aquanauts began to rebel against topside intervention and the constant monitoring they experienced from the surface (Benjamin, 2023). Some aquanauts in our sample (36%) expressed similar sentiments, seeing surface people (“surface dwellers”) and the surface world as “other” and being detached from that aspect of the world (see Table 6). Even more rarely (21%), because of the strenuous physical, mental, and technical challenges that they faced, some aquanauts, at times felt disconnected from the environment —detached from the marine ecosystem around them—rather than from the surface.

Table 6.

Relational Changes.

Code (number of instances observed)	Example(s)
Connection to something larger
Connection to nature (47)	[Aquanaut D]: I feel like I’m home . . . I was starting to get depressed. I was starting to get really sad. The saddest day in my diving career and realizing that it was over, realizing that we had, we’re giving up our home, that we were going back to the surface world. I was leaving my home. I was leaving a place of beauty, of uniqueness, of majesty, of magic.
Closeness to fellow aquanauts (24)	[Aquanaut D]: I think that the journey that we took together made me personally, I can’t speak for the others, but it made me feel like they’re an extended family, in a sense, and we’ve had a special experience together that is very unique to the world. Very, very, very few people, you know a fraction of 1% of the world will ever get a chance to experience what we did. The intensity of it definitely marked us for a long time
Closeness to humankind and the planet (13)	[Aquanaut C]: But I think having had those experiences, I’m more focused on, you know, paying it forward and doing things that have have a greater good, and I attribute that to the things I’ve done in my career . . . so it’s this concept of seeing the world without boundaries, without dots on the globe that depict the city, but just sort of a confluence of nature and humanity.
Female experience (3)	[Aquanaut J]: being kind of the only female in a very male dominated experience . . . For me? It was exciting, I mean, really exciting. And again I was just grateful at the time. I was just grateful for the opportunity. [J]
Time course of transformations
Detachment and hostility towards surface (11)	[Aquanaut D]: But we started detaching ourselves from the topside world and started being more and more possessive of the bottom world—not only of our community or 6 person community in our, in our little house, but also of our neighborhood. And so when someone, you know, when . . . we would get a visit from the surface, you know those unsaturated, the surface dwellers, the air breathers up above, we would start feeling a sense of invasion like they’re here again. Oh, my, it’s like . . . a neighbor that you don’t want to see. You know like someone coming to knock on your door, and you’re just like seriously, go away.
Disconnection from environment (7)	[Aquanaut I]: people are not fish and they don’t do very well when they’re underwater and wet all the time.

Connection to Something Larger

Although all but one aquanaut expressed this theme in some way, the specifics varied widely. Many expressed feeling connected to nature , which included feeling part of the marine ecosystem. Some aquanauts related this to larger spiritual connectedness, while many also specifically mentioned feeling at home underwater, as if they belonged there. This came with associated feelings of sadness when having to leave this “home.” Others talked about the transition they underwent, feeling as though they became part of the larger underwater ecosystem and finally understood the mysterious underwater world. This feeling of connection to the marine ecosystem was the most common relational shift amongst aquanauts (86%).

The feeling of being part of something larger also manifested as a sense of purpose, sometimes within a research team and mission; aquanauts frequently reported feelings of closeness to their fellow aquanauts (71%). Many reported a connection that came through the shared experience of saturation and living underwater in a confined space. They often described this bond as special and unique. This closeness with fellow aquanauts also influenced other areas of life. It taught them the importance of empathy and the value of relying on others and enduring personal hardships for shared, collective goals. A few aquanauts went farther, reporting feeling close to all humankind and the planet (36%). These feelings of increased connection to others are relevant when trying to understand how or why this experience may lead to more pro-environmental behaviors, which often requires individuals to prioritize collective well-being over personal gain.

Finally, the last relational influence that we documented in our sample was the experience of being a woman in male-dominated industry, which led to a unique female experience (14%). Although only 14% of our total sample mentioned this code, 100% of the female aquanauts we interviewed discussed how their gender impacted their experience as an aquanaut. One female aquanaut also referenced feeling grateful towards previous female aquanauts who had paved the way and allowed her to feel confident in a science and space traditionally dominated by men.

Discussion

Our analysis reveals a consensus among aquanauts regarding shared elements of the experience of saturation that together constitute an “Underview Effect.” We now focus our discussion on summarizing the findings of our three main research questions.

Are There Psychological, Social, and Behavioral Effects Resulting from Saturation Diving, and If So, How Do Aquanauts Characterize Them?

Aquanauts consistently reported that saturation diving had a profound effect on how they perceived and understood marine ecosystems. The consistent changes in what aquanauts paid attention to and in the quality and states of attention revealed that living on the sea floor can lead to attentional shifts that facilitate deeper insights into and connection to the marine environment surrounding aquanauts. This sometimes expressed itself as strengthening a commitment to protect the marine ecosystem, and other times took on a more emotional tone, feeling empathy with and connection to marine life and at home in the water. This aligns with prior work on significant life experiences in nature, which indicate they serve as the precursor to viewing the environment from an empathic perspective (Tanner, 1980).

In addition to changes in how they attended to and perceived their marine environment, aquanauts also consistently reported changes in how they perceived themselves, and their relation to the marine ecosystems in which they were immersed. The consistency and frequency of aquanauts’ strong, positive memories and emotions and novel sensory and embodied experiences reveals that saturation diving as an aquanaut can lead to emotional and embodied experiences and includes both self-transcendent emotions (awe, wonder, gratitude), and more self-contained positive emotions (joy and tranquility).

In addition to self-transcendent emotions, there was a nearly unanimous experience of a self-expanding perspective while living underwater. The shift from an egocentric to ecocentric perspective represents perhaps the most consequential shift aquanauts experienced as it relates to their experience of themselves in relation to the wider world. Aquanauts transitioned from a narrow focus on self-centered internal thoughts to a broader perspective that encompassed acting on behalf of an entity or as a stakeholder of the ecosystem as a whole. This was related to feeling connected to something larger, in which aquanauts expressed feeling “one with” or “at home in” the marine ecosystem, and felt the interconnectedness between themselves and all of nature. The default view of our western culture is often one of human exceptionalism, whereby humans are conceived as separate and superior to the rest of the natural world (Kim et al., 2023). However, aquanauts frequently demonstrated an immense humility, reverence, and awe for the marine ecosystem and its inhabitants, even referring to themselves as equal marine mammals of sorts. Having this profound experience in nature has been shown to lead to long term positive effects in how individuals live in relation to nature, feel a greater sense of meaning in their lives, and shift their values from self-focused to more environmentally-oriented (Chawla, 2010; Mathers & Brymer, 2022). Moreover, these formative experiences can serve as powerful antecedents to environmental interest, concern, and action (Chawla, 2010).

Aquanauts also describe how having access to saturation diving not only enabled them to conduct more advanced science and observe hard-to-capture phenomena, but also made them better scientists. They were compelled to ask better questions and become deeply engaged and immersed in their research in ways they never had before. In addition, their perceptions of themselves as scientists, but also stewards of the natural world became apparent in how it affirmed and strengthened prior commitments to the natural world. Many reported feeling personally tied to the health of the ecosystem and described the experience as affirming their commitment to sharing marine science and protecting the health of the ocean. This indicates the experience shifted their understanding of their role as an individual in relationship to the wider world. In sum, the experience of living underwater seems to have left even seasoned marine scientists with the impression that they now looked at the undersea world with different eyes.

What Are the Potential Psychological or Environmental Roots of These Effects?

Although our study doesn’t elucidate the direct causality of these effects, aquanauts frequently expressed that without the saturation experience, they have felt the shifts in both their commitment to the environment and their understanding of marine ecosystems. The idea continually and spontaneously arose that it was an experience that couldn’t be replaced with traditional scuba diving or simulated through a technological analogue, and it allowed them to make scientific discoveries that would otherwise be impossible. This allowed them to gain a unique understanding of the dynamics of the marine ecosystem they studied. One potential mechanism that may have facilitated these profound effects was the novelty and immersive nature of the underwater sensory environment. The immersive saturation environment appears to create a synergistic relationship between these cognitive changes and the insights provided by living within the marine surroundings. This synergy allowed aquanauts to apprehend truths such as the inherent tension between the environment’s beauty and its fragility, the vast complexity of ecosystems, the cycles of ecosystems across time scales, and subtle details that are often unnoticed. Prior work highlights the power of immersion in natural settings that differ from our day to day environments—it engages multiple senses and the affective systems which leads to the formation of more lasting memories (Clayton et al., 2016; Kaplan et al., 1998). Other work exploring this phenomenon suggests that these profound shifts are largely place-based phenomena, meaning the insights could only be gained by being physically present in the environment (Vining & Merrick, 2012).

Another potential mechanism that may have led to this increased understanding of and commitment to the natural world are the self-transcendent emotions that were provoked while saturating—gratitude, awe, compassion and wonder. These emotions facilitate one to focus on something beyond the self, and in this case these emotions facilitated a greater appreciation of the marine ecosystem, the value of nature, and the immense complexity and fragility of the systems that allow humans to survive on this planet. Previous work indicates that experiencing self-transcendent emotions such as awe, compassion and gratitude can lead to prosocial and pro-environmental behaviors, and that time in nature can elicit such positive emotions (Neill et al., 2019; Zelenski & Desrochers, 2021). Such experiences may facilitate further awareness of environmental degradation, a call towards environmental stewardship, and a reaffirmation of prior commitments to protecting the marine environment. The tendency to experience awe in daily life has been shown to be associated with scientific thinking, as awe often stimulates the revision of pre-existing beliefs to align with new evidence or experiences that go beyond prior frames of reference (Gottlieb et al., 2018). Our findings are consistent with this previous work linking awe to pro-environmentalism; aquanauts frequently reported both pro-environmental and prosocial values following the experiences of self-transcendent emotions in saturation.

How Does This Compare to the Overview Effect?

The recurrent themes we have identified in our aquanauts’ narratives mirror patterns originally defined by White (1998): (1) an abiding concern and passion for the well-being of the Earth, (2) changed perceptions of space and time coupled with the experiential impact of silence and weightlessness, (3) an understanding that everything is interconnected and interrelated, (4) a higher level view-point, involving new awareness and consciousness, and (5) the recognized need for a stewardship perspective and a global participatory management of the planet. Ninety-three percent of our aquanauts reported experiencing a strengthening and affirmation of their commitment to stewarding the natural world, reflecting White’s abiding concern and passion for the well-being of the Earth and recognized need for a stewardship perspective. Likewise, 93% of our aquanauts reported changed perceptions and salient novel sensory and embodied experiences, akin to White’s changed perceptions of space and time coupled with the experiential impact of silence and weightlessness. All but one of our interviewees described what amounted to a shift from an egocentric to ecocentric perspective, with 64% explicitly mentioning interdependence, much like White’s understanding that everything is interconnected and interrelated. One potential difference between the Underview and Overview effect lies in White’s reported higher level view-point, involving new awareness and consciousness. Although we found that 57% of aquanauts reported an increased ability to take a panoramic or birdseye view, and 43% described an enhanced appreciation for the immense complexity and interactions between elements of marine ecosystems, aquanauts were more likely to express feelings of intimacy and connection with their surroundings (the ocean) than to report a higher-level perspective (the planet).

In sum, we interpret our findings as evidence for an “Underview Effect.” Nearly unanimous consensus among our aquanauts suggests that spending extended periods of time underwater can lead to a suite of interconnected changes, like those reported for the Overview Effect, including heightened perceptions and amplification of the sense of commitment and connectedness to the environment. However, this Underview Effect is also distinct with respect to the specificity and direction of that connection and commitment. While astronauts often report a holistic sense of connectedness to the entire planet, aquanauts frequently felt a specific bond with the marine ecosystem. Only occasionally did this sense of connection extend to the planet as a whole. As one aquanaut, who also had experience as an astronaut, puts it:

Obviously, they’re very different environments, you know, up in space, you’re kind of abstracted from it. And looking back down on this beautiful scene, whereas when you’re diving, you’re enmeshed in it, so they’re really unique.

Limitations and Future Directions

Although we found remarkable convergence across our sample of aquanauts in terms of the cognitive, behavioral, and affective impacts of their saturation experience, it is important to acknowledge that this is a highly select group of individuals. Most are white males, most came to the experience because they already had strong pro-environmental and pro-ocean attitudes and beliefs, and all had the social and economic privilege to spend extended time in an undersea habitat. As such, one important future direction would be to examine the impact of a saturation experience on a different and more diverse set of people (Squire, 2021). It is also important to point out that in some societies only a small portion of people have access to the ocean due to societal, economic, and psychological barriers, and a lack of access to scuba diving opportunities and training. While many cultures around the world center on a deep connectedness to the ocean (Allison et al., 2023; Fache et al., 2022), in many industrialized countries—locations where many environmental problems originate—connectedness or even basic awareness of the importance of the ocean to human well-being can be severely lacking (Jefferson et al., 2021). One way to circumvent these barriers could involve border sharing of the underwater experience that aquanauts had through narrative or virtual means (Perovich et al., 2023), in a similar manner to how astronauts share their experiences with others.

Another future direction is to examine the increase in action that occurs from the profound experience of the “Overview Effect” and the “Underview Effect.” Do these scientists increase humanitarian and environmental advocacy upon return from their experience and back into civilization? Through future work we can assess relations between the experience and increased action (whether humanitarian or environmental) to better understand how to increase ocean stewardship across all demographics whether on land, in space, or underwater. As has been argued for the implications of the Overview Effect, we do not argue that more people need to saturate as aquanauts in order to promote human-ocean connections, just as it is not feasible for large numbers of people to visit outer space. Instead, like space travel, by understanding the experiences of the few people who have lived as aquanauts (fewer even than the total number of astronauts) we advocate for sharing of those experiences in ways that motivate and excite a broad spectrum of society to envision the ocean in new ways that includes humans as part of that vision. This also lends itself to a future study explicitly comparing the experience of living in an underwater habitat (saturation) and surface-based SCUBA diving, and if similar effects would occur, given the increased accessibility of surface-based diving.

Supplemental Material

sj-docx-1-eab-10.1177_00139165251390708 – Supplemental material for An Underview Effect? Psycho-Social Impacts of Saturation Diving Among Aquanauts

Supplemental material, sj-docx-1-eab-10.1177_00139165251390708 for An Underview Effect? Psycho-Social Impacts of Saturation Diving Among Aquanauts by Kristen Kilgallen, Lily Turino, Angela J. Jones, Lisa Truitt, John D. Coley and Brian Helmuth in Environment and Behavior