Why Study Ocean temperature o This takes energy from the

Ocean = Earth's Thermostat remaining liquid water, cooling it.

Holds massive amounts of heat, regulating
• Condensation:
global climate.
o Vapor turns back to liquid,
Sources of Heat in Oceans releasing the energy stored as
latent heat.
1. Solar Radiation:
o This warms the surrounding
o The primary source of heat.
air/ocean.
o Sunlight absorbed directly by the
• Key Point: Latent heat changes the
ocean surface.
state of water, not the temperature of
2. Atmosphere: individual molecules.as it used in
breaking bonds etc not for heating.
o Heat exchanged between ocean
and air: Conduction:
• Direct contact
▪ Sensible heat transfer
• Heat transfer between touching objects.
(conduction)
• Example: Pan heating up on a stove
▪ Latent heat transfer Convection:
(evaporation, • Movement of fluids (liquids, gases)
condensation) • Warm parts rise, cool parts sink
• Example: Air currents in a heated room
▪ Longwave radiation Radiation:
emitted by the • Energy travels as waves (like light)
atmosphere and • No matter needed (works in space)
absorbed by the ocean • Example: Sunlight warming the Earth
3. Geothermal Heat:
LWTR & Heat Budget
o Heat from Earth's interior
released through: • LWTR: Infrared energy emitted by Earth's
▪ Seafloor hot springs surface, helps Earth cool.
• Oceans emit lots of LWTR:
▪ Underwater volcanic
activity o Big surface area
o Smooth surface (efficient
4. Other Minor Sources: radiation)
o Decay of radioactive elements in o High emissivity (good at radiating
seawater (small contribution) heat)
o Friction from currents and tides
Albedo vs. LWTR
(minimal impact)
Latent Heat: Evaporation, Condensation, & • Albedo: How much sunlight is reflected.
Temperature High albedo = less warming (think ice).

• Latent Heat: Energy used to change a • LWTR: How much heat a surface emits.
substance's phase (solid, liquid, gas) Depends on temperature & material.
without changing its temperature.
Key Point: Albedo is about incoming sunlight,
• Evaporation: LWTR is about outgoing heat.
o Water molecules gain enough
energy to break bonds and
become vapor.
Key Adaptations for Deep-Sea Survival: Prevailing Winds: Onshore winds push warm
surface water away, leading to upwelling of
• Food Scarcity: colder, deeper water.
o Slow metabolism to conserve
energy Depth: Sunlight only warms the upper ocean,
so deeper water is naturally colder.
o Filter feeding to capture tiny
particles (e.g., sponges, clams) Upwelling: Deep, cold water rises to the
o Scavenging on large, infrequent surface, lowering surface temperatures.
food falls (e.g., hagfish feeding
on whale carcasses) Landmasses: Land heats up and cools down
• Darkness: faster than water, influencing the temperature
of nearby ocean areas.
o Huge, sensitive eyes to detect
faint light
Salinity: Higher salinity slightly increases
o Bioluminescence for attracting water's heat capacity, meaning it takes slightly
prey or mates (e.g., anglerfish, longer to warm up or cool down.
viperfish)
• Extreme Pressure: Sea Ice: High albedo reflects sunlight, and the
o Flexible bodies and reduced ice itself insulates the ocean, keeping it cold.
bone structures to withstand the
Seafloor Topography:
crushing pressure.

Additional Notes: Ridges: Can restrict water flow, affecting how

heat is distributed. Underwater Mountains
• Lack of photosynthesis: Deep-sea food
webs rely on sinking organic matter or Sills: Shallow areas act as barriers, influencing
chemosynthesis around hydrothermal mixing and temperature patterns. Passes UW
vents eg sulphur dioxide certain
Basin Shapes: Influence how currents move
bacteria make food using chemical.
and distribute heat within the ocean. Valley UW
Ocean Light Zones
Diurnal Range of Temperature
• Photic (Sunlight): 0-200m, light supports • Temperature Swing: How much
photosynthesis, most marine life. temperature changes from day to night.
• Disphotic (Twilight): 200-1000m, very • Big change = Big swing
faint light, bioluminescence starts, large
• Small change = Small swing
eyes.
• Aphotic (Midnight): Below 1000m, total
Ocean's Small Swing:
darkness, food from above or
chemosynthesis, extreme adaptations • Ocean is like a giant heat sponge!
• Takes lots of energy to change its
Factors Affecting Ocean Temperature temperature.
Distribution: • Sun makes it warmer slowly, cools down
slowly too.
Latitude: Less sunlight near poles leads to
colder water. What is the thermocline?
Ocean's Temperature Blanket: Imagine the
Ocean Currents: Warm currents transport ocean has a thin blanket in the middle. Above
heat, increasing temperature. Cold currents it, the water is warmer. Below, it's much colder!
transport cold water, decreasing temperature. That blanket is the thermocline.
Change Zone: The thermocline is where the • No Big Change: Without the big
temperature changes really fast as you go temperature difference.
deeper.
Thermohaline Circulation
Not Always the Same: Just like a blanket can
move, the thermocline can be deeper or • Name Breakdown:
shallower depending on the place and time of o Thermo = Temperature
year.
o Haline = Salinity (salt content)
Pycnocline: Zone of rapid density increase • What Drives It: Density differences
with depth. Controlled by temperature created by temperature and salinity.
(thermocline) and salinity (halocline) gradients. • Process:
o Cold, salty water sinks.
Halocline: Zone of rapid salinity change with
depth. Often due to freshwater input (e.g., rain, o Warm, less salty water rises.
rivers) lessening salinity near the surface. o Creates a global "conveyor belt"
of ocean currents.
Thermohaline Circulation: Ocean circulation
driven by temperature and salinity differences: Annual Range of Temperature

• Cold, dense water sinks. • Definition: The difference between the

• Warm, less dense water rises hottest and coldest average
temperatures recorded within a year at a
specific location.
Key Notes: • How it's calculated:
o Find the average monthly
• Pycnocline strength influences mixing: temperature of the hottest
Strong pycnocline inhibits vertical month.
exchange.
o Find the average monthly
• Thermohaline circulation is a global temperature of the coldest
conveyor belt system, crucial for heat month.
and nutrient distribution.
o Subtract the coldest month's
average temperature from the
Why the pycnocline acts as a barrier and
hottest month's average.
case of Poles:
Heating & Cooling Rates
Why the Pycnocline is Like a Wall:
• Heat Capacity: A substance's ability to
• Imagine layers: The pycnocline is where
store heat. High heat capacity = takes
the water changes fast – warm on top,
more energy to change temperature.
cold and heavy below, like different
liquids trying to mix.
Heat Capacity Order (High to Low):
• Things like to stay in their layer: It takes a
lot of energy to move things across the 1. Water (highest)
pycnocline, so creatures, nutrients,
2. Ice
even heat can get "stuck" on one side.
3. Moist Soil/Vegetation
Why Poles Are Different: 4. Dry Soil/Rock
5. Air (lowest)
• Always Cold: Polar oceans are super
cold all the way down, no warm top
layer!
Heat capacity is inversely proportional to Equator:
Annual range of temperature:
• Warm surface: Maximum sunlight leads
1. Air to high surface temperatures.
2. Dry Soil/Rock • Gradual decrease: Vast depth allows for
3. Moist Soil/Vegetation significant temperature drop before
reaching the cold, deep ocean.
4. Ice
5. Water Poles:

• Surface near freezing: Water can't get

More water=More heat capacity= less annual much colder before freezing.
range of temperature • Ice formation: Acts as an insulator,
so Pacific less annual range of temperature limiting further heat loss from the
than say Indian or Atlantic ocean.
Biggest Ocean/ increasing Annual range temp Ocean Temperature Facts
Pacific>Atlantic>Indian>Southern>Arctic
Daily Changes:

• Small Fluctuation: Ocean temperatures

generally change by only about 1 degree
Celsius throughout the day.
• Timing: Highest around 2 PM (after peak
sunlight), lowest near 5 AM.

Annual Changes:

• Warmest & Coldest Months: August is

generally the warmest month for ocean
surface temperatures, February the
coldest.
• Tropical Cyclone Link: Warmer waters
fuel storms, explaining the increased
tropical cyclone activity in late summer
(like August).

Salinity Definition:

• Simple: The total amount of dissolved

Tropics: Trade winds push warm surface water salts in seawater.
westward, resulting in warmer temperatures on • Units: Measured in grams of salt per
the western side compared to the east. kilogram of water (g/kg), often expressed
as parts per thousand (ppt).
Temperate Regions: Weakened trade wind
• Average: Around 35 ppt in the open
influence allows other winds and currents to
ocean, but variations are significant.
dominate, leading to more variable
temperatures.

Polar Regions: Trade winds have no direct

impact.
Sources of Salinity: o Melting: Adds freshwater,
diluting surface water and
• Rocks & Weathering: Rivers carry decreasing salinity.
dissolved minerals from weathered
rocks into the ocean. Salinity Variation: Equator vs. Poles
• Volcanoes: Underwater eruptions and
vents release dissolved minerals. • General Trend: Salinity decreases from
the equator towards the poles.
• Atmosphere: Windblown dust and gases
dissolve into seawater. • Equatorial Exception: Despite high
temperatures, heavy rainfall and
• Hydrothermal Vents: Release mineral- cloudiness near the equator can offset
rich fluids, impacting local salinity. evaporation, preventing the highest
salinity from occurring there.
What Salinity Determines:
• Polar Salinity: Low evaporation and
• Density: Saltier water is denser and freshwater from melting ice lead to low
sinks, driving ocean circulation. salinity (20-32 ppt) in polar regions.
• Freezing/Boiling Points: Higher salinity
Maximum Salinity:
lowers freezing point, raises boiling
point. • Location: The highest oceanic salinity
• Osmosis: Affects the movement of (37 ppt) is found between 20°N and
water in and out of marine organisms' 30°N latitude, and 20°W - 60°W
cells. longitude.
• Sound Transmission: Impacts how • Pattern: Salinity decreases northward
sound travels underwater, relevant for from this maximum point.
both animals and sonar.
Major Ocean Basins:
Brackish vs. Marine vs. Freshwater:
• Atlantic: Generally saltiest of the major
• Brackish: Mix of salt and fresh, common oceans due to stronger evaporation.
in estuaries (5-30 ppt). • Pacific: Largest, with significant regional
• Marine: Full-strength ocean water (33- variations in salinity.
37 ppt) • Indian: Moderately saline, influenced by
• Freshwater: Very low salt content (less monsoon rainfall patterns.
than 0.5 ppt)
Key Points:
Factors Affecting Salinity: • Local climate: Evaporation rates and
freshwater input are main drivers.
• Evaporation: Removes freshwater,
concentrating salt, raising salinity. • Circulation: How connected the sea is
to the ocean impacts if salinity builds
• Precipitation: Adds freshwater, diluting up.
salt, lowering salinity.
• River Input: Freshwater inflow lowers Trapped & Inland Seas:
salinity near river mouths.
• Ocean Currents: Distribute salty or • Sargasso Sea: High salinity due to its
fresher water across ocean basins. location in a subtropical high-pressure
zone.
• Sea Ice:
• Mediterranean: Higher salinity from
o Formation: Freezing seawater
evaporation exceeding freshwater input.
excludes salt, making
surrounding water saltier.
 • Black Sea: Lower salinity at surface due Carbon Sequestration:
to river input, deeper water is saltier.
• Great Salt Lake, Lake Van: Hypersaline • Definition: The process of capturing and
due to evaporation, lack of outflow. storing carbon dioxide to mitigate
climate change.
Salinity & Mixing: • AMOC's Role: Pulls CO2-rich surface
water into the deep, effectively storing it
• Salinity differences create density for long periods.
gradients: Less dense water sits atop
denser water. Causes for Concern:
• Mixing limited: This layering hinders
vertical mixing of nutrients and oxygen. • Climate Change: Melting ice and
increased freshwater inflow could
Vertical Salinity Variation: disrupt the delicate density balance
driving AMOC.
• Halocline: Zone of rapid salinity change • Slowdown: Evidence suggests AMOC
with depth. might be weakening.
• Stratification: Salinity differences, along
with temperature (the thermocline), Effects of AMOC Slowdown:
create a density-layered ocean.
• Extreme weather: Potential for more
• Importance: This stratification impacts intense storms and heatwaves in
ocean circulation and the distribution of Europe.
marine life.
• Sea level rise:
AMOC (Atlantic Meridional Overturning • Marine ecosystems: Less nutrients
Circulation) upwelled could harm ocean
productivity.
• What it is: A large-scale ocean current • Reduced carbon storage: Less carbon
system, like a giant conveyor belt, pulled into the deep ocean.
moving water within the Atlantic Ocean.
• How it works:
o Warm surface water flows
northward, where it cools, gets
saltier, and becomes denser.
o This dense water sinks in the
North Atlantic, flowing back
south as deep, cold currents.

Importance:
Salinity & Marine Life:
• Heat Transport: AMOC carries warmth
northward, moderating temperatures in • Osmosis: Key adaptation challenge–
Europe. cells affected by salt concentration.
• Nutrient Distribution: The upwelling and • Species Distribution: Different species
downwelling parts of the circulation have specific salinity tolerances.
cycle nutrients.
• Ecosystem Impacts: Changes in salinity
• Carbon Sink: AMOC helps draw carbon disrupt food webs & habitats.
dioxide out of the atmosphere, storing it
in the deep ocean.