halocline

[hal-uh-klahyn]

noun

1. a well-defined vertical salinity gradient in ocean or other saline water.

halocline

1. A relatively sharp discontinuity in ocean salinity at a particular depth. In general, water with a higher concentration of salinity sinks below water that is less saline; therefore, saltier haloclines lie below less salty ones. An exception is the surface halocline of the Arctic Ocean, which is both colder and more saline than the warmer Atlantic water beneath it and which protects the polar ice from melting from below.

Word History and Origins

Origin of halocline¹

First recorded in 1955–60; halo- + cline

Example Sentences

At the interface between the seawater and the brine pools, we see a “halocline”, or visible boundary between density layers.

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This is not unlike the effect you can see when you observe the boundary between a layer of oil and water in a measuring cup – or the halocline present between freshwater and encroaching seawater in the flooded caves of Mexico:  

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Cenote Angelita: Underwater River Photographed by Anatoly Beloshchin: “a sort of illusion due to halocline.”

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The cold surface layer — called the halocline — isolates the sea ice from the warmer water below.

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A thinning halocline — something that has not yet been observed — would not only jeopardize the sea ice but could also melt the carbon-rich permafrost beneath shallow coastal waters, releasing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

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