The middle layer in a thermally stratified lake or reservoir. In this layer there is a rapid decrease in temperature with depth. Also called the METALIMNION.
Depth zone within which temperature changes maximally.
A layer in which the temperature decreases significantly (relative to the layers above and below) with depth. The principal ones are designated diurnal, seasonal, and main thermocline.
A boundary between layers of water with differing temperatures.
Zone between the colder water of the ocean depths and warmer surface water. Large temperature variations occur with depth in the thermocline zone. Near the surface, however, where water is always in motion, and in the ocean depths where there is no source of heat, the water temperature is fairly uniform.
The middle layer of a thermally stratified lake or reservoir. In this layer, there is a rapid decrease in temperatures in a lake or reservoir.
A temperature division in the water where the temperature abruptly changes, causing the sonar sound waves to split and deflect down and up, effectively hiding any suib luiring right under the thermocline.
The water depth in a stratified lake at which the temperature changes very rapidly between the epilmnion and hypolimnion.
In water, a distinctive temperature transition zone that separates an upper layer that is mixed by the wind (the epilimnion) and a colder, deep layer that is not mixed (the hypolimnion).
A zone in a water body in which temperature declines rapidly with increasing depth. Vertical water circulation is limited by the presence of a thermocline.
The depth at which an inflection point occurs in a lake temperature profile.
A depth of the sea where cold water and warmer water are separated or stratified
A specific depth at which there is a layer of water where the temperature changes dramatically. Warmer surface water is seperated from the cooler deep water. This temperature gradient results in the formation of a density barrier.
the vertical zone in the water column where temperature changes rapidly with depth
zone of the ocean in which temperature begins to decrease rapidly with increasing depth.
Depth in a stratified lake where the greatest change in temperature occurs. Separates the epilimnion from the hypolimnion
middle layer of water found in a temperature stratified lake; metalimnion
is the boundary layer between the warmer well-mixed surface water and colder deep ocean water. The depth of the thermocline is another indicator of an El Niño events when it deepens in the eastern Pacific. [ Normal, El Niño, & La Niña examples
the zone of the ocean in which temperature decreases rapidly with depth.
a layer with an abrupt temperature change
an area of rapid temperature change that acts as a physical barrier between warm water at the surface ( epilimnion ) and cold water at the bottom ( hypolimnion )
an area where water temperatures change rapidly, usually from colder at the bottom to warmer on top)
the layer of water with rapid temperature changes in the vertical
the water layer in which temperature changes most rapidly with increasing depth
Oceanic water layer in which temperature decreases rapidly with increasing depth. This phenomenon is accompanied by an increase in the nitrate concentration (nitracline) and by an increase in salinity.
A vertical temperature change in some layer in a body of water. Thermoclines can be seasonal or permanent.
As one descends from the surface of the ocean the temperature remains nearly the same as it was at the surface. Soon, however, one encounters a zone in which temperature starts decreasing rapidly with depth. This zone is called the thermocline. The thermocline is important because it can support large scale waves which play a major role in ENSO. In studying the tropical Pacific Ocean, the depth of 20C water ("the 20C isotherm") is often used as a proxy for the depth of the thermocline. Along the equator, the 20C isotherm is typically located at about 50m depth in the eastern pacific, sloping downwards to about 150 m in the western Pacific.
the plane of maximum rate of change of temperature.
These are areas underwater where warmer layers of water meet cooler layers, and where fish are often active. Generally, baitfish hang just above the thermocline, while larger game fish are found suspended in or just below it. Eagle units will display thermoclines when used in the manual mode, showing actual sonar returns, and with the sensitivity set correctly.
(Gr. therme heat, klinein to slope.) Zone (horizontal layer) in water body in which there is a rapid rate of temperature decrease with depth. Also called metalimnion, it lies below the epilimnion.
THER-mo-kline A middle layer of a lake where water temperature changes rapidly and drastically. 879
A layer of water in a thermally stratified lake or other body of water separating an upper warmer lighter oxygen-rich zone from a lower colder heavier oxygen-poor zone; especially a stratum in which temperature declines at least one degree centigrade with each meter increase in depth.
a depth at which the temperature gradient (cooling with water depth) is at a maximum.
Layer of ocean water a few tens of meters thick that divides the mixed layer (a layer of relatively warm water just below the surface) from colder, deeper water. If one were to descend from the surface in a submarine, water temperature would remain almost constant through the mixed layer and then drop rapidly as one passed through the thermocline. The depth of the thermocline varies in space and in time. Along the equator it is usually only a few tens of meters below the surface in the eastern Pacific, compared to 100 meters or more below the surface in the western Pacific. During the onset of El Niño, the thermocline flattens out as the water in the mixed layer surges eastward in response to the weakening of the easterlies. When the thermocline is shallow it is easier for cold, nutrient-rich waters to reach the surface to fertilize the food web.
The thermocline is a plane within the metalimnion of lentic ecosystems at which the temperature drops most rapidly
the layer in a thermally stratified body of water which experiences the greatest temperature fluctuations
Sudden changes in water temperature with changing depth. They occur when warmer, lighter water forms a layer above a more dense, colder layer of water If strongly effected by currents it can be the other way round occasionally.
During summertime, the middle layer of lake water. Lying below the epilimnion, this water rapidly loses warmth.
The abrupt transition from one temperature of water, to another. Generally it is warmer water on the surface and cooler at depth. In colder climes though, one can find a “reverse thermocline” where the water is actually warmer at depth due to freezing temperatures on the surface. The depth(s) of thermoclines will vary with seasons and water conditions.
The steep temperature gradient that separates the warm oceanic surface water from the cold deep ocean.
The often sharply defined boundary between surface water and deeper, cooler water
A layer (in the sea in this case) where there is an abrupt temperature change.
A layer of sea water slightly warmer or colder than the surrounding water.
Depth zone within which temperature gradient is at a maximum.
(metalimnion): intermediate (middle) layer of water in a lake. Total solids: a term used to describe all the matter suspended or dissolved in water.
The region of the world's ocean, typically at a depth of lkm, where temperature decreases rapidly with depth and which marks the boundary between the surface and Deep Ocean. OPCC).
The depth within the metalimnion of a thermally stratified lake where the temperature gradient is greatest and exceeds a change of 1°C per metre of depth. See also metalimnion, thermally stratified. [Gk. therme, heat + kleinen, to slope.
intersection between two layers of water of that are of distinctly different temperatures, usually the colder layer is deeper.
Vertical zone in the ocean below the mixed layer where the temperature decreases rapidly with increasing depth (typically 500- 1,000 m thick).
A sudden drop in water temperature over a short distance. It is surrounded by the epilimnion above and the hypolimnion underneath. Cold water fish are usually found near or below the thermocline.
A region in the upper ocean where the vertical temperature gradient is large. Generally, a top mixed layer with warm temperatures is separated from the colder waters of the deep oceans by the thermocline. In the tropical Pacific Ocean, the depth of 20C water ("the 20C isotherm") is often used as a proxy for the depth of the thermocline. Along the equator, the 20C isotherm slopes from a depth of about 50m in the eastern Pacific, to about 150m in the western Pacific.
Transition zone of rapid temperature change
Stratification is the layering of water due to differences in density. Water's greatest density occurs at 39 Deg.F (4 Deg.C). As water warms during the summer, it remains near the surface while colder water remains near the bottom. Wind mixing determines the thickness of the warm surface water layer (epilimnion), which usually extends to a depth of about 20 feet. The narrow transition zone between the epilimnion and cold bottom water (hypolimnion) is called the metalimnion or thermocline.
A depth at which the temperature of the water changes significantly.
A vertical negative temperature gradient in some layer of a body of water which is appreciably greater than the gradients above and below it. In the ocean, this may be seasonal, due to the heating of the surface water in the summer, or permanent.
zone of gradual temperature decrease between warm surface water and colder deep water in a lake, reservoir or ocean.
Boundary in a body of water where the greatest vertical change in temperature occurs. This boundary is usually the transition zone between the layer of warm water near the surface that is mixed and the cold deep water layer.
The layer in a lake which divides the warm upper current-mixed zone (epilimnion) from the colder lower deep-water stagnant zone (hypolimnion).
A vertical temperature gradient, in some layer of a body of water, that is appreciably greater than the gradients above and below it; also a layer in which such a gradient occurs. The permanent thermocline refers to the thermocline not affected by the seasonal and diurnal changes in the surface forcing; it is therefore located below the yearly maximum depth of the mixed layer and the influence of the atmosphere. The seasonal thermocline refers to the thermocline not affected by the diurnal changes in the surface forcing. In general, it is established each year by heating of the surface water in the summer, and is destroyed the following winter by cooling at the surface and wind-driven mixing. The diurnal thermocline refers to the thermocline that, in general, is established each day by heating of the surface water and is destroyed the following night by cooling and/or mixing. See also transition layer.
Generally a layer of water with a more intensive vertical gradient in temperature than in the layers either above or below it. The depth and thickness of these layers vary with season, latitude and longitude, and local environmental conditions. In the ocean there is a permanent thermocline residing from 100-700 meters below the surface, a seasonal thermocline that varies with the seasons (developing in spring, becoming stronger in summer, and disappearing in fall and winter), and a diurnal thermocline that forms very near the surface during the day and disappears at night. A review of the governing dynamics of the permanent thermocline can be found in Pedlosky (1987).
a layer within a large body of water sharply separating parts of it that differ in temperature, so that the temperature gradient through the layer is very abrupt. [AHDOS
The thermocline (sometimes metalimnion) is a layer within a body of water or air where the temperature changes rapidly with depth.