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Stratification in water is the formation in a body of water of relatively distinct and stable layers by density. It occurs in all water bodies where there is stable density variation with depth. Stratification is a barrier to the vertical mixing of water, which affects the exchange of heat, carbon, oxygen and nutrients. [1]
Ocean stratification is the natural separation of an ocean's water into horizontal layers by density. This is generally stable stratification , because warm water floats on top of cold water, and heating is mostly from the sun, which reinforces that arrangement.
Lake stratification is the tendency of lakes to form separate and distinct thermal layers during warm weather. Typically stratified lakes show three distinct layers: the epilimnion, comprising the top warm layer; the thermocline (or metalimnion), the middle layer, whose depth may change throughout the day; and the colder hypolimnion, extending to the floor of the lake.
Ocean stratification, the formation of water layers based on temperature and salinity in oceans; Lake stratification, the formation of water layers based on temperature, with mixing in the spring and fall in seasonal climates. Atmospheric instability; Atmospheric stratification, the dividing of the upper reaches of the Earth's atmosphere into ...
The less turbid the water, the more light is able to penetrate, and thus heat is conveyed deeper in the water. [17] Heating declines exponentially with depth in the water column, so the water will be warmest near the surface but progressively cooler as moving downwards. There are three main sections that define thermal stratification in a lake.
For example, air and water; both are fluids and if we consider them together then they can be seen as a stratified fluid system. Density variations in the atmosphere profoundly affect the motion of water and air. Wave phenomena in air flow over the mountains and occurrence of smog are the examples of stratification effect in the atmosphere.
Pycnocline during stable stratification of deep water layers. The pycnocline is the transitory region between a surface layer of water (warmer and less dense) and deeper layer of water (colder and more dense). Mixing occurs across the pycnocline, driven primarily by waves and shear.
where ρ is the density of a water parcel in the ocean and S is the absolute salinity. The subscripts Θ and p indicate that β is defined at constant potential temperature Θ and constant pressure p. The haline contraction coefficient is constant when a water parcel moves adiabatically along the isobars.