List and describe the five common water masses found in temperate and tropical latitudes. What will be an ideal response?
(1) Surface water, to a depth of about 200 meters (660 feet);
(2) Central water, to the bottom of the main thermocline (which varies with latitude);
(3) Intermediate water, to about 1,500 meters (5,000 feet);
(4) Deep water, water below intermediate water but not in contact with the bottom, to a depth
of about 4,000 meters (13,000 feet);
(5) Bottom water, water in contact with the seafloor.
Surface currents move in the relatively warm upper environment of surface and central water.
The boundary between central water and intermediate water is the most abrupt and
pronounced. The densest (and deepest) masses were formed by surface conditions that caused the water to become very cold and salty. Water masses near the surface can be warmer and
less saline; they may have formed in warm areas where precipitation exceeded evaporation.
Water masses at intermediate depths are intermediate in density. In spite of this
differentiation, the relatively cold water masses lying beneath the thermocline exhibit smaller
variations in salinity and temperature than the water in the currents that move across the
ocean’s surface.
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a. true b. false
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