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The mesosphere is the third highest layer of Earth's atmosphere, occupying the region above the stratosphere and below the thermosphere. It extends from the stratopause at an altitude of about 50 km (31 mi; 160,000 ft) to the mesopause at 80–85 km (50–53 mi; 260,000–280,000 ft) above sea level.
Density plays a large role in stratifying the ocean into layers. In a body of water, as the depth increases, so does the density; water masses with the highest density are at the bottom and the lowest densities are at the top. Typically, warm freshwater is less dense than cold salty water, thus the colder water will sink below the warmer water.
The vertical temperature profile of the surface layer of the ocean is determined by different heat transport processes. At the very interface, the ocean is in thermal equilibrium with the atmosphere which is dominated by conductive and diffusive heat transfer. Also, evaporation takes place at the interface and thus cools the skin layer.
A marine layer is an air mass that develops over the surface of a large body of water, such as an ocean or large lake, in the presence of a temperature inversion. The inversion itself is usually initiated by the cooling effect caused when cold water on the surface of the ocean interacts with a comparatively warm air mass. [1]
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 sea surface microlayer (SML) is the boundary interface between the atmosphere and ocean, covering about 70% of Earth's surface. With an operationally defined thickness between 1 and 1,000 μm (1.0 mm), the SML has physicochemical and biological properties that are measurably distinct from underlying waters.
A thermocline (also known as the thermal layer or the metalimnion in lakes) is a distinct layer based on temperature within a large body of fluid (e.g. water, as in an ocean or lake; or air, e.g. an atmosphere) with a high gradient of distinct temperature differences associated with depth.
Graph showing ocean temperature versus depth on the vertical axis. The graph shows several thermoclines (or thermal layers) based on seasons and latitude. The temperature at zero depth is the sea surface temperature. The ocean temperature plays a crucial role in the global climate system, ocean currents and for marine habitats.