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Warm surface water is generally saltier than the cooler deep or polar waters. [1] In polar regions, the upper layers of ocean water are cold and fresh. [2] Deep ocean water is cold, salty water found deep below the surface of Earth's oceans. This water has a uniform temperature of around 0-3 °C. [3]
Ocean temperature and motion fields can be separated into three distinct layers: mixed (surface) layer, upper ocean (above the thermocline), and deep ocean. Ocean currents are measured in units of sverdrup (Sv), where 1 Sv is equivalent to a volume flow rate of 1,000,000 m 3 (35,000,000 cu ft) per second.
Deep ocean water (DOW) is the name for cold, salty water found in the deep sea, starting at 200 m (660 ft) below the surface of Earth's oceans. Ocean water differs in temperature and salinity. Warm surface water is generally saltier than the cooler deep or polar waters; [1] in polar regions, the upper layers of ocean water are cold and fresh. [2]
Deep ocean water has a temperature between −2 °C (28 °F) and 5 °C (41 °F) in all parts of the globe. [14] The temperature gradient over the water depth is related to the way the surface water mixes with deeper water or does not mix (a lack of mixing is called ocean stratification). This depends on the temperature: in the tropics the warm ...
Normally, relatively warm, less-saline water stays on the ocean's surface while deep layers are colder, denser and more-saline, in what is known as ocean stratification. [19] Deep water eventually gains heat and/or loses salinity in an exchange with the mixed ocean layer, and becomes less dense and rises towards the surface. Differences in ...
The extent of the ocean surface down into the ocean is influenced by the amount of mixing that takes place between the surface water and the deeper water. This depends on the temperature: in the tropics the warm surface layer of about 100 m is quite stable and does not mix much with deeper water, while near the poles winter cooling and storms makes the surface layer denser and it mixes to ...
The deep ocean is both cold and dark with generally weak velocities (although limited areas of the deep ocean are known to have significant recirculations). The deep ocean is supplied with water from the upper ocean in only a few limited geographical regions: the subpolar North Atlantic and several sinking regions around the Antarctic. Because ...
AABW is formed in the Southern Ocean from surface water cooling in polynyas.. The Antarctic bottom water (AABW) is a type of water mass in the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica with temperatures ranging from −0.8 to 2 °C (35 °F) and absolute salinities from 34.6 to 35.0 g/kg. [1]