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Changes in temperature and density move the cold water back towards the equator as a deep sea current. Then it eventually wells up again towards the surface. Ocean temperature as a term applies to the temperature in the ocean at any depth. It can also apply specifically to the ocean temperatures that are not near the surface.
The temperature in the ocean, up to approximately 700 meters deep into the ocean, has been rising almost all over the globe. [12] The increased warming in the upper ocean reduces the density of the upper ≈500 m of water, while deeper water does not experience as much warming and as great a decrease in density.
Near Antarctica, temperature is the main contributor for the high density there. Water near the tropics already has high salinity. Evaporation leaves salt behind in the water, increasing salinity and therefore density. As water temperatures are a lot higher, density in the tropics is lower than around the poles.
Effect of temperature and salinity upon sea water density maximum and sea water freezing temperature. It has long been known that wind can drive ocean currents, but only at the surface. [12] In the 19th century, some oceanographers suggested that the convection of heat could drive deeper currents.
At a temperature of 25 °C, the salinity of 35 g/kg and 1 atm pressure, the density of seawater is 1023.6 kg/m 3. [7] [8] Deep in the ocean, under high pressure, seawater can reach a density of 1050 kg/m 3 or higher. The density of seawater also changes with salinity.
WOA surface density. Because the vast majority of the world ocean's volume is deep water, the mean temperature of seawater is low; roughly 75% of the ocean's volume has a temperature from 0° – 5 °C (Pinet 1996). The same percentage falls in a salinity range between 34 and 35 ppt (3.4–3.5%) (Pinet 1996).
In the summer, warmer temperatures, melting sea and land ice, and increased sunlight cause the surface layer of the ocean to increase in temperature. This layer sits on top of the large winter mixed layer that was previously created and forms a seasonal pycnocline above the main pycnocline, with the winter mixed layer becoming a lower density ...
Ocean heat content (OHC) or ocean heat uptake (OHU) is the energy absorbed and stored by oceans. To calculate the ocean heat content, it is necessary to measure ocean temperature at many different locations and depths. Integrating the areal density of a change in enthalpic energy over an ocean basin or entire ocean gives the total ocean heat ...