What is below the thermocline?

Below the thermocline lies the abyssal region of the oceans, where the temperature is much lower and variability generally much weaker than in the upper ocean. The average temperature is approximately 3.5 °C. These cold waters result from the cooling of water masses by the atmosphere in polar regions.

What happens to the temperature of the ocean the deeper it gets?

Water gets colder with depth because cold, salty ocean water sinks to the bottom of the ocean basins below the less dense warmer water near the surface. The actual amount of heat generated per square meter of Earth is quite small, especially compared to the amount of heat necessary to warm the ocean.

What is a thermocline how does it affect sea surface temperatures?

A thermocline (also known as the thermal layer or the metalimnion in lakes) is a thin but distinct layer in a large body of fluid (e.g. water, as in an ocean or lake; or air, e.g. an atmosphere) in which temperature changes more drastically with depth than it does in the layers above or below.

What is the temperature of the thermocline?

Below the mixed layer there is a rapid decline in temperature over a fairly narrow increase in depth. This is called the thermocline . Below the thermocline the deep ocean temperature is fairly constant at about 2o C, continuing down to the bottom.

What happens when water temperatures drop in the ocean?

When water cools, it contracts and becomes denser. Temperature and salinity both affect the density of water, resulting in water moving up or down through the ocean layers and moving as currents around the ocean.

How does temperature affect the ocean?

The ocean absorbs most of the excess heat from greenhouse gas emissions, leading to rising ocean temperatures. Increasing ocean temperatures affect marine species and ecosystems. Rising temperatures cause coral bleaching and the loss of breeding grounds for marine fishes and mammals.

Why do waters below the thermocline remain at a mostly constant temperature?

The water just below the epipelagic zone tends to stay at a constantly cool temperature. This is mostly because this layer isn’t disturbed by the currents and elements that batter the surface layer.

What is the temperature of an ocean?

The average temperature of the sea surface is about 20° C (68° F), but it ranges from more than 30° C (86° F) in warm tropical regions to less than 0°C at high latitudes. In most of the ocean, the water becomes colder with increasing depth.

What happens when the ocean temperature increases?

Increases in sea surface temperature have led to an increase in the amount of atmospheric water vapor over the oceans. This water vapor feeds weather systems that produce precipitation, increasing the risk of heavy rain and snow (see the Heavy Precipitation and Tropical Cyclone Activity indicators).

What is the temperature at the bottom of the ocean?

Therefore, the deep ocean (below about 200 meters depth) is cold, with an average temperature of only 4°C (39°F). Cold water is also more dense, and as a result heavier, than warm water.

What is the function of the thermocline in the ocean?

This layer interacts with the wind and waves, which mixes the water and distributes the warmth. At the base of this layer is the thermocline. A thermocline is the transition layer between the warmer mixed water at the surface and the cooler deep water below.

How can you tell when you have reached the thermocline?

It is relatively easy to tell when you have reached the thermocline in a body of water because there is a sudden change in temperature. In the thermocline, the temperature decreases rapidly from the mixed layer temperature to the much colder deep water temperature.

The temperature of the deep ocean drops gradually with depth. As saline water does not freeze until it reaches −2.3 °C (27.9 °F) (colder as depth and pressure increase) the temperature well below the surface is usually not far from zero degrees. The thermocline varies in depth.

What factors affect the depth of a thermocline?

Factors that affect the depth and thickness of a thermocline include seasonal weather variations, latitude, and local environmental conditions, such as tides and currents . For the use of ocean thermoclines to generate energy, see Ocean thermal energy conversion.