Ocean and Deep Sea Terms

Strictly speaking, the abyss is a particular zone extending between 3,000 and 6,000 meters (9,843 feet to 19,685 feet) in depth.

By extension, the term is also used to designate the deep oceans overall.

An oceanographic term to describe areas where the ocean floor is more than 730-1000 meters (.454-.621 miles) below the surface.

The zone within the water column extending from about 2,500 meters (1.553 miles) the base of the bathypelagic zone to just above the seafloor over the abyssal plain.

1. The fraction of incident light that is reflected in all directions from an uneven surface; especially, the surface of the earth.
2. The fraction of the solar radiation that is reflected back into space.
3. The ratio of the amount of light reflected from an object in all directions to the amount of incident light.

An albedo of 1.0 corresponds to a perfect reflector.

A monthly tide of decreased range that occurs when the moon is at apogee or the farthest from the earth.

The stony corals, mostly living in deep water, which do not live in symbiotic association with algae.

They are entirely dependent on capturing particles, living or detrital, from the water.

Literally: without zooxanthellae as defined in this unit.

The benthic depth zone, extending along the continental slope from about 200 (.124 miles) to 2,000 meters (1.243 miles) depth.

Related to the depth of the seafloor and its mapping.

The zone within the water column below about 1,000 meters (.621 miles) or the lower limit of the mesopelagic zone, extending to about 2,500 meters (1.55 miles), the base of the continental slope.

An instrument that records ocean water temperature in relation to depth.

1. A reference to the fauna living on the bottom of the oceans, in contrast to the pelagic fauna, which live in the open oceans.
2. Pertaining to benthos, which designates the oceanic substratum.

It refers to the fauna living on the bottom, in contrast to the pelagic fauna (animal life), which lives in the open ocean.

A reference to the fauna living within the water column in association with the seafloor, often extending some tens of meters above the bottom.

1. The fauna and flora of the seafloor.
2. The biogeographic region at the bottom of a body of water; especially, the ocean, and the complex of living organisms and their specific assemblages that inhabit the bottom substrates.

1. The science of the geographic distribution of living species.
2. The study of the distribution patterns of plants and animals and the processes that produce those patterns.

The biological mechanisms by which organic matter is relatively rapidly transported from near-surface waters to the deep ocean; such as, through the grazing and defecation of fast-sinking fecal pellets by copepods (defined in this unit) and larger organisms, and the vertical migration of near-surface feeders to mesopelagic depths.