What is a rapid change in temperature with depth?
A thermocline is the transition layer between the warmer mixed water at the surface and the cooler deep water below. It is relatively easy to tell when you have reached the thermocline in a body of water because there is a sudden change in temperature.
What is a zone of rapid temperature change called?
A thermocline is a zone of rapid temperature change with depth in a body of water. It is the boundary between two layers of water that have different temperatures, in a lake, estuary , or an ocean.
What do you call a rapid change in density with depth?
The pycnocline encompasses both the halocline (salinity gradients) and the thermocline (temperature gradients)refers to the rapid change in density with depth. Because density is a function of temperature and salinity, the pycnocline is a function of the thermocline and halocline. 2.
What term best describes the rapid change in temperature with increased depth in the ocean?
A rapid change in ocean temperature with a change in depth occurs in the: thermocline.
What do you call a rapid change in salinity with depth?
halocline, vertical zone in the oceanic water column in which salinity changes rapidly with depth, located below the well-mixed, uniformly saline surface water layer.
What do El Nino mean?
El Niño means Little Boy, or Christ Child in Spanish. South American fishermen first noticed periods of unusually warm water in the Pacific Ocean in the 1600s. The full name they used was El Niño de Navidad, because El Niño typically peaks around December. El Niño can affect our weather significantly.
What is thermocline depth?
thermocline, oceanic water layer in which water temperature decreases rapidly with increasing depth. A widespread permanent thermocline exists beneath the relatively warm, well-mixed surface layer, from depths of about 200 m (660 feet) to about 1,000 m (3,000 feet), in which interval temperatures diminish steadily.
How does temperature change with ocean depth?
Temperatures in the oceans decrease with increasing depth. There are no seasonal changes at the greater depths. The temperature range extends from 30 °C (86 °F) at the sea surface to −1 °C (30.2 °F) at the seabed.
Which layer of the ocean experiences a rapid change in density with depth?
Water density is governed by temperature and salinity; consequently, the thermocline coincides generally with the pycnocline, or layer in which density increases rapidly with depth.
What is meant by halocline?
halocline, vertical zone in the oceanic water column in which salinity changes rapidly with depth, located below the well-mixed, uniformly saline surface water layer.
What is a rapid change in salinity with depth?
Below the mixed layer is an area of rapid salinity change over a small change in depth. This zone of rapid change is called the halocline , and it represents a transition between the mixed layer and the deep ocean.
What causes a thermocline?
A thermocline refers to a boundary of water which separates regions of warmer water from the colder water below. A Thermocline is formed by the effect of the sun, which heats the surface of the water and keeps the upper parts of the ocean or water in a lake, warm.
What do you mean by thermocline?
A thermocline (also known as the thermal layer or the metalimnion in lakes) is a thin but distinct layer in a large body of fluid (e.g. water, as in an ocean or lake; or air, e.g. an atmosphere) in which temperature changes more drastically with depth than it does in the layers above or below.
What is El Niño vs La Niña?
El Niño refers to the above-average sea-surface temperatures that periodically develop across the east-central equatorial Pacific. It represents the warm phase of the ENSO cycle. La Niña refers to the periodic cooling of sea-surface temperatures across the east-central equatorial Pacific.
How do El Niño and La Niña occur?
An El Niño condition occurs when surface water in the equatorial Pacific becomes warmer than average and east winds blow weaker than normal. The opposite condition is called La Niña. During this phase of ENSO, the water is cooler than normal and the east winds are stronger. El Niños typically occur every 3 to 5 years.
What is a thermocline quizlet?
A thermocline (sometimes metalimnion in lakes) is a thin but distinct layer in a large body of fluid (e.g. water, such as an ocean or lake, or air, such as an atmosphere) in which temperature changes more rapidly with depth than it does in the layers above or below. You just studied 10 terms! 1/10. FreeOranges.
What is the depth of the thermocline?
thermocline, oceanic water layer in which water temperature decreases rapidly with increasing depth. A widespread permanent thermocline exists beneath the relatively warm, well-mixed surface layer, from depths of about 200 m (660 feet) to about 1,000 m (3,000 feet), in which interval temperatures diminish steadily.
What is a thermocline layer?
A thermocline (also known as the thermal layer or the metalimnion in lakes) is a thin but distinct layer in a large body of fluid (e.g. water, as in an ocean or lake; or air, e.g. an atmosphere) in which temperature changes more drastically with depth than it does in the layers above or below.
What is the difference between thermocline and halocline?
A halocline is most commonly confused with a thermocline – a thermocline is an area within a body of water that marks a drastic change in temperature. A halocline can coincide with a thermocline and form a pycnocline. Haloclines are common in water-filled limestone caves near the ocean.
What is gyre in science definition?
A gyre is a large system of rotating ocean currents. Together, these larger and more permanent currents make up the systems of currents known as gyres. Wind, tides, and differences in temperature and salinity drive ocean currents.
What is a thermocline in the ocean?
thermocline, oceanic water layer in which water temperature decreases rapidly with increasing depth. A widespread permanent thermocline exists beneath the relatively warm, well-mixed surface layer, from depths of about 200 m (660 feet) to about 1,000 m (3,000 feet), in which interval temperatures diminish steadily.
How does temperature salinity and pressure change to depth?
Deeper in the ocean, salinity and temperature change less with depth, and pressure becomes the important controlling factor. In regions of surface dilution, salinity increases with depth near the surface, while in areas of high evaporation salinity decreases with depth.
How does temperature change with depth in the ocean?
Temperatures in the oceans decrease with increasing depth. There are no seasonal changes at the greater depths. The temperature range extends from 30 °C (86 °F) at the sea surface to −1 °C (30.2 °F) at the seabed.
What is the meaning of El Niño?
El Niño is a climate pattern that describes the unusual warming of surface waters in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. El Nino is the “warm phase” of a larger phenomenon called the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO).
Why is El Niño called El Niño?
Fishermen off the west coast of South America were the first to notice appearances of unusually warm water that occurred at year's end. The phenomenon became known as El Niño because of its tendency to occur around Christmas time. El Niño is Spanish for "the boy child" and is named after the baby Jesus.
What is the difference between El Niño and La Nino?
El Niño events are associated with a warming of the central and eastern tropical Pacific, while La Niña events are the reverse, with a sustained cooling of these same areas. These changes in the Pacific Ocean and its overlying atmosphere occur in a cycle known as the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO).
What is the El Niño phenomenon?
El Niño is a climate pattern that describes the unusual warming of surface waters in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. El Nino is the “warm phase” of a larger phenomenon called the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO).
Between which depths is the thermocline?
thermocline, oceanic water layer in which water temperature decreases rapidly with increasing depth. A widespread permanent thermocline exists beneath the relatively warm, well-mixed surface layer, from depths of about 200 m (660 feet) to about 1,000 m (3,000 feet), in which interval temperatures diminish steadily.
What is the term for the sharp decrease in temperature in the ocean with depth from the surface common in tropical and subtropical oceans?
thermocline – is the layer where water temperature decreases rapidly with the depth. Much faster than the usual temperature drop. Below the layer the water temperatures drop at its usual rate.
What is thermocline and halocline?
A halocline is most commonly confused with a thermocline – a thermocline is an area within a body of water that marks a drastic change in temperature. A halocline can coincide with a thermocline and form a pycnocline. Haloclines are common in water-filled limestone caves near the ocean.