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Temperatures in the Mesopelagic zone range from 5 to 4 °C (41 to 39 °F). The pressure is higher here, it can be up to 10,100 kilopascals (1,460 psi) and increases with depth. [1] 54% of the ocean lies in the Bathypelagic (aphotic) zone into which no light penetrates. This is also called the midnight zone and the deep ocean.
Stratified layers are a barrier to the mixing of water, which impacts the exchange of heat, carbon, oxygen and other nutrients. [1] The surface mixed layer is the uppermost layer in the ocean and is well mixed by mechanical (wind) and thermal (convection) effects. Climate change is causing the upper ocean stratification to increase.
Geologically, an ocean is an area of oceanic crust covered by water. Oceanic crust is the thin layer of solidified volcanic basalt that covers the Earth's mantle. Continental crust is thicker but less dense. From this perspective, the Earth has three oceans: the World Ocean, the Caspian Sea, [citation needed] and the Black Sea.
The ocean contains 97% of Earth's water and is the primary component of Earth's hydrosphere and is thereby essential to life on Earth. The ocean influences climate and weather patterns, the carbon cycle, and the water cycle by acting as a huge heat reservoir. (Full article...) Waves in Pacifica, California. A sea is a large body of salt water.
Another result is a decrease in nutrients for fish in the upper ocean layers. These changes also reduce the ocean's capacity to store carbon. [177] At the same time, contrasts in salinity are increasing. Salty areas are becoming saltier and fresher areas less salty. [178] Warmer water cannot contain the same amount of oxygen as cold water.
The surface mixed layer is the uppermost layer in the ocean and is well mixed by mechanical (wind) and thermal (convection) effects. Due to wind driven movement of surface water away from and towards land masses, upwelling and downwelling can occur, breaking through the stratification in those areas, where cold nutrient-rich water rises and ...
Layers of the pelagic zone. The bathypelagic zone or bathyal zone (from Greek βαθύς (bathýs), deep) is the part of the open ocean that extends from a depth of 1,000 to 4,000 m (3,300 to 13,000 ft) below the ocean surface.
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).