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Founded in 1876, Texas A&M University is a U.S. public and comprehensive university offering a wide variety of academic programs far beyond its original label of agricultural and mechanical trainings. It is one of the few institutions holding triple federal designations as a land-, sea- and ...
In physical oceanography, a water mass found in the Pacific Ocean in the depth range from 1000-3000 m. It does not participate much in the overall circulation and as such its properties are determined mostly by slow mixing processes. It is composed of a mixture of AABW, NADW and AAIW, and has a characteristic salinity from 34.60-34.65 and a temperature around 2° C. It is also has an oxygen minimum and a silica maximum, with the latter’s lateral origin in the northeastern Pacific. This is separated from the bottom AABW by a benthic front in the southern and western North Pacific.
Industry:Earth science
In physical oceanography, a water mass in the Subantarctic Zone of the Southern Ocean. This is one type of Subpolar Mode Water. The SAMW is the deep surface layer of water with uniform temperature and salinity created by convective processes in the winter. It can by identified by a temperature of around -1.8° C and a salinity of around 34.4 and is separated from the overlying surface water by a halocline at around 50 m in the summer. Although it is not considered to be a water mass, it contributes to the Central Water of the southern hemisphere, and is additionally responsible for the formation of AAIW in the eastern part of the south Pacific Ocean. This has also previously been called Winter Water.
Industry:Earth science
In physical oceanography, a water mass located in the Subantarctic Zone of the Southern Ocean. It is characterized hydrographically by temperatures ranging from 4-10° C in the winter and 4-14° C in summer, with salinities between 33.9 and 34.9 and reaching as low as 33.0 in the summer as the ice melts.
Industry:Earth science
In physical oceanography, a water mass partly formed by convective sinking of surface water at SSTs of 26° C and above in the tropics in the area of Polynesia. It is identified at temperatures greater than 20° C by a higher salinity than WSPCW, although below 20° C it seems to be a mixture of WSPCW and ESPCW.
Industry:Earth science
In physical oceanography, a water mass that leaves the Strait of Gibraltar with a temperature of about 13.5° C and a salinity of 37.8 but is transformed by mixing to a temperature and salinity of 11-12° C and 36.0-36.2 within 250 km. From there it spreads isopycnally across the ocean, mixing gradually with the water above and below.
Industry:Earth science
In physical oceanography, a water mass type formed in the Weddell Sea by surface cooling and subsequent convection in the polyna. This water has stable properties with a potential temperature between 0.4-0.7° C. WDW mixes with water above the continental slope in the Weddell Sea to serve as one source for Antarctic Bottom Water.
Industry:Earth science
In physical oceanography, a water mass which is one of six distinguishable Central Water masses in the Pacific Ocean. Its T-S properties are almost indistinguishable from those of ICW and SACW, indicative of similar atmospheric conditions during formation. It is formed and subducted in the STC between Tasmania and New Zealand, and is geographically restricted by that and Australia at 150° W. It is separated to the east from the fresher ESPCW in a broad transition zone between 145 and 100° W, and to the north from SPEW, fresher above 8° C and saltier below, at around 15° S.
Industry:Earth science
In physical oceanography, the dominant water mass in the northern subtropical gyre, formed and subducted in the northern STC. This is fresher than NPEW at all temperatures and saltier than ENPCW except at temperatures above about 17° C (the upper thermocline). It is separated to the east from ENPCW at around 170° W and to the south from NPEW at around 12-15° N.
Industry:Earth science
In physical oceanography, the name given to a transition region in the Southern Ocean (SO) or Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) between the Subantarctic Front (SAF) to the north and the Polar Front (PF) to the south. This was first called the Antarctic Polar Front Zone in the mid–1970s but later modified to the present name. It is identified as a region bound between the 3–9° C surface isotherms. The PFZ is one of four distinct surface water mass regimes in the Southern Ocean, the others being the Subantarctic Zone (SAZ) to the north and the Antarctic Zone (AZ) and Continental Zone (CZ) to the south.
Industry:Earth science
In physical oceanography, the water mass that occupies the largest volume of the Pacific thermocline waters. The NPEW and the SPEW are two varieties of this separated, as one might guess, by the Equator. They differ in T-S properties above 8° C but merge into a single curve below this, which reaches T-S combinations showing high salinities indicative of mixing with deep water.
Industry:Earth science
