Water masses

water mass

A body of water with a common formation history, for example, convection caused by surface cooling, having its origin in a particular region of the ocean.

Water masses are identified by their temperature, salinity, and other properties such as nutrients or oxygen content. They have exclusive occupation of an oceanic region only in their formation region; elsewhere they share the ocean with other water masses with which they mix. Just as air masses in the atmosphere, water masses are physical entities with a m easurable volume.

Water masses are formed as the result of climatic effects in specific regions. Antarctic bottom water is an important water mass that forms on the Antarctic continental shelf as a cold, dense residual brine during the formation of sea ice

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