[neilep (OP)]

Dearest Oceanologists,

As a sheepy I of course luff the ocean..

look, here's an Ocean.

 [ Invalid Attachment ]
An Ocean Earlier This Evening


Nice eh ? being delivered next Tuesday as a garden water feature.

I'm curious though......cos, as ewe probably well know the atmosphere has layers like this cake: [ Invalid Attachment ]


Look, here's the atmosphere and all it's layers !!


 [ Invalid Attachment ]





Does the ocean have layers like this ?


What are they called ? and what are they comprised of ? and what are their dimensions/thickness ?


As a firm believer in empirical study my neighbour, at 3am this morning, (whilst joyfully chloroformed) volunteered  (in that he did not protest whilst unconscious) to be attached to an oil rig drilling bit and plunged deepy downy into the ocean joyness !.....As the Oil-Rig drillers are on half term break right now I'll have to wait a whole week before my neighbour re-appears..so...no luck there !


Can ewe help me understand the nature of Oceanic Layer fun ?


Thank ewe



hugs & shmishes



mwah mwah mwah




neil
Row Row Row Your Boat
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[Geezer]

Yes. It is. The layers have different toncicities. Submarines use them to hide from other submarines. I know this is true 'cos I saw it on the telly.

[litespeed]

Ocean layers come in several varieties. The first is called the 'halocline' or some such, and refers to lighter fresher water that floats on top of salty ocean water. This happens when rivers flow into salt water, for example. It can be a very well defined layering much more extreme then seen in the atmosphere.

For instance, I know of at least one case where a submarine began a dive from the surface, but was bounced back to the surface when it descended into the denser, saltier water below. It was subsequently lost to enemy gun fire before it could get down again.
Another form of layering simply involves temperature variation. A warmer current simply gliding above a converging colder, denser flow. I don't know how many halocline and thermocline layers can stack up one on the other.

A less well defined layering is defined by oxygen content in the body of water itself. Various bodies of water, such as the Black Sea, have very little turbulence at very deep levels to such an extent that all the oxygen has been used up long ago. Ballard actually found and remotely videoed a 1,500 year old Byzantine ship wreck.

I remember he said he hoped to find a nearly intact wooden boat with the stump of a mast and plenty of cargo. In fact, what he found included the entire mast with what looked like a recently tied knot at the top. The anarobic, cold environment left the ship intact, like a fly in amber. Quite remarkable.  I do not think it has yet been excavated.

[LeeE]

Have a look at the scale drawing on the left and the table on the right at the beginning of this article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelagic_zone

Then on top of those layers, you also get different temperature layers, which is what the subs use to hide from sonar, and different salinity and oxygen content layers.

Don't forget too, that you can also have different currents at different levels.

[Kerry]

Speaking of layers - I came across this the other day: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100216.html [nofollow]

I know it's not the ocean, but awesome all the same!

[neilep (OP)]

Yes. It is. The layers have different toncicities. Submarines use them to hide from other submarines. I know this is true 'cos I saw it on the telly.

gosh !...I am going to see it front of the telly until I see it too !!.....awesome !!

[neilep (OP)]

Ocean layers come in several varieties. The first is called the 'halocline' or some such, and refers to lighter fresher water that floats on top of salty ocean water. This happens when rivers flow into salt water, for example. It can be a very well defined layering much more extreme then seen in the atmosphere.

For instance, I know of at least one case where a submarine began a dive from the surface, but was bounced back to the surface when it descended into the denser, saltier water below. It was subsequently lost to enemy gun fire before it could get down again.
Another form of layering simply involves temperature variation. A warmer current simply gliding above a converging colder, denser flow. I don't know how many halocline and thermocline layers can stack up one on the other.

A less well defined layering is defined by oxygen content in the body of water itself. Various bodies of water, such as the Black Sea, have very little turbulence at very deep levels to such an extent that all the oxygen has been used up long ago. Ballard actually found and remotely videoed a 1,500 year old Byzantine ship wreck.

I remember he said he hoped to find a nearly intact wooden boat with the stump of a mast and plenty of cargo. In fact, what he found included the entire mast with what looked like a recently tied knot at the top. The anarobic, cold environment left the ship intact, like a fly in amber. Quite remarkable.  I do not think it has yet been excavated.

Gosh !!..Thank ewe Litespeed for the very fascinating post. Incredible about the shipwreck and I appreciate the information.

Could pressure also push the oxygen out of deep deep water  do ewe think ?

[neilep (OP)]

Speaking of layers - I came across this the other day: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100216.html

I know it's not the ocean, but awesome all the same!

Whoa !!..fantastic Photo Kerry...thank ewe !