Water mass
identifiable body of water with a common formation history which has physical properties distinct from surrounding water
An oceanographic water mass is an identifiable body of water with a common formation history which has physical properties distinct from surrounding water. Properties include temperature, salinity, chemical - isotopic ratios, and other physical quantities which are conservative flow tracers. Water mass is also identified by its non-conservative flow tracers such as silicate, nitrate, oxygen, and phosphate.
Water masses are generally distinguished not only by their respective tracers but also by their location in the Worlds' oceans. Water masses are also distinguished by their vertical position so that there are surface water masses, intermediate water masses and deep water masses.
Global water masses
Common water masses in the world ocean are:
Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW): Antarctic Bottom Water is a very important water mass. Antarctic Bottom Water is the left over part when sea ice is being made. It is very cold but, not quite freezing so the water moves down and along the ocean floor.
North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW)
Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW)
Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW)
Subantarctic Mode Water (SAMW)
Arctic Intermediate Water (AIW)
North Pacific Intermediate Water (NPIW)
The central waters of various oceanic basins
Various ocean surface waters.
Characteristics of water masses
Although there are many types of water masses, they all share characteristics.
The public source identifies “Water mass” as identifiable body of water with a common formation history which has physical properties distinct from surrounding water. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Water, mass and identifiable.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 21, 2024. The linked authority identifier is Q3267569. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Water mass” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.