GEOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -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.

Detailed explanation-2: -In the thermocline, the temperature decreases rapidly from the mixed layer temperature to the much colder deep water temperature. The mixed layer and the deep water layer are relatively uniform in temperature, while the thermocline represents the transition zone between the two.

Detailed explanation-3: -The average temperature is approximately 3.5 °C. These cold waters result from the cooling of water masses by the atmosphere in polar regions.

Detailed explanation-4: -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.

Detailed explanation-5: -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.