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The increase of both ocean surface temperature and deeper ocean temperature is an important effect of climate change on oceans. [11] Deep ocean water is the name for cold, salty water found deep below the surface of Earth's oceans. Deep ocean water makes up about 90% of the volume of the oceans. Deep ocean water has a very uniform temperature ...
Any changes in ocean currents affect the ocean's ability to absorb carbon dioxide (which is affected by water temperature) as well as ocean productivity because the currents transport nutrients (see Impacts on phytoplankton and net primary production). Because the AMOC deep ocean circulation is slow (it takes hundreds to thousands of years to ...
The surface salinity of the ocean is a key variable in the climate system when studying the global water cycle, ocean–atmosphere exchanges and ocean circulation, all vital components transporting heat, momentum, carbon and nutrients around the world. [84] Cold water is more dense than warm water and salty water is more dense than freshwater.
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.
Since liquid water flows, ocean waters cycle and flow in currents around the world. Since water easily changes phase, it can be carried into the atmosphere as water vapour or frozen as an iceberg. It can then precipitate or melt to become liquid water again. All marine life is immersed in water, the matrix and womb of life itself. [7]
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 ...
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.
Antarctic Bottom Water can be distinguished from other intermediate and deep water masses by its cold, low nutrient, high oxygen, and low salinity content. [2] The bottom water of the Arctic Ocean is more isolated, due to the topography of the Arctic Ocean floor and the surrounding Arctic shelves. Deep Western Boundary Currents carry the ...