PDS logoPlanetary Data System
PDS Information
Find a Node - Use these links to navigate to any of the 8 publicly accessible PDS Nodes.

This bar indicates that you are within the PDS enterprise which includes 6 science discipline nodes and 2 support nodes which are overseen by the Project Management Office at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). Each node is led by an expert in the subject discipline, supported by an advisory group of other practitioners of that discipline, and subject to selection and approval under a regular NASA Research Announcement.

Earth: Oceans

Thermocline:

Ocean layer in which temperature decreases rapidly with depth. From 200 to 1000 meters the temperature decreases by 15 degrees F. In summer the thermocline becomes thin and gradients of 1 degree per foot can be observed.

Oceans:
P = g*rho*Z

P(Bar) = 981 cm/s2 * 12*2.54 * Z(ft) * rho(gm/cm3) * 1.0E-6 Bar/(dyn/cm2)
P(Bar) = 31.0 * Z(1000 ft)



Z(ft)rho (gm/cm3)
01.028 (assume 35 parts-per-thousand salinity)
10001.033
20001.0375
200001.071


ZP
32010 Bar
3,200100 Bar
3,790120 Bar <Z> of all Oceans - depth of life Zone
4,690145 Bar depth of Mediterranean
7,282225 Bar depth of Gulf of Mexico
20,000600 Bar max. depth of Atlantic
35,6001100 Bar 1960 depth of Trieste into Chall.II (7 miles!!)


Notes:
Ratio of Volume of Ocean to Land (above Z=0) = 11
Ratio of Area of Ocean to Land:
N 61:39 = 3:2
S 81:19 = 4:1
all 142:58 = 5:2

Source: 1982 Encyclopedia Brittanica