# The Worlds Oceans Boiling **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 17, 2012, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-oceans-boiling/631800 "2012-08-17T18:12:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MR.REED](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@MR.REED](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MR.REED)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-oceans-boiling/631800/1 "2012-08-17T18:12:21Z")
As you go higher into the atmosphere (and further from the Earth’s core), it gets much colder. As most of the oceans floor are closer to the core (about 10 km thick) yet as you get closer to the core it also gets much colder. Why are the oceans temperatures not warmer? I tend to envision a large pot of water being heated on both ends by the sun and the core, churned by the current. 90 % of the total volume of ocean is found below the thermocline in the deep ocean. Much of this deep ocean water is between 0-3 degrees Celsius (32-37.5 degrees Fahrenheit)! It’s really, really cold down there! Why is this? ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-oceans-boiling/631800/2 "2012-08-17T18:17:10Z")
Because cold water is denser. It wants to go to there. ---
**Author:** ![MR.REED](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@MR.REED](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MR.REED)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-oceans-boiling/631800/3 "2012-08-17T18:20:29Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > Because cold water is denser. It wants to go to there. So is it hot near the bottom? ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-oceans-boiling/631800/4 "2012-08-17T18:25:34Z")
> [@MR.REED](#): > > So is it hot near the bottom? 2 characters [QUOTE=MR.REED] Much of this deep ocean water is between 0-3 degrees Celsius (32-37.5 degrees Fahrenheit)! It’s really, really cold down there! [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-oceans-boiling/631800/5 "2012-08-17T18:28:58Z")
This seems like a lot of heat for the ocean to absorb. Does this heat disturb ocean currents? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-oceans-boiling/631800/6 "2012-08-17T18:35:27Z")
For one thing, the deeper you go in the ocean, the less light and heat from the sun get through. But on land, where there’s nothing obstructing the sun light and heat, it does get warmer the farther down you go. There’s a noticeable difference between the rim of the Grand Canyon and the bottom. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-oceans-boiling/631800/7 "2012-08-17T18:38:46Z")
> [@MR.REED](#): > > As you go higher into the atmosphere (and further from the Earth’s core), it gets much colder. Nitpick: As [this chart](http://www.fas.org/irp/imint/docs/rst/Sect14/FIG01_019.jpg) shows, this is only true up to a point. ---
**Author:** ![Michael63129](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@Michael63129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael63129)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-oceans-boiling/631800/8 "2012-08-17T19:23:53Z")
> [@Jake](#): > > This seems like a lot of heat for the ocean to absorb. Does this heat disturb ocean currents? No, [because heat is what drives ocean currents](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermohaline_circulation), whether directly (warm water rising and evaporation, which also affects salinity) or indirectly (wind, which is driven by convection and imbalances in the atmosphere). Also, the water at the seafloor stays cold because any heating, such as from an underwater volcanic eruption, would warm the water and cause it to rise, while cold water, in the polar regions, is sinking ([here](http://moregrumbinescience.blogspot.com/2010/03/why-is-ocean-cold.html) is a good article on why the ocean bottom is cold). ---
**Author:** ![Michael63129](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@Michael63129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael63129)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-oceans-boiling/631800/9 "2012-08-17T19:34:48Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Nitpick: As [this chart](http://www.fas.org/irp/imint/docs/rst/Sect14/FIG01_019.jpg) shows, this is only true up to a point. Not only that, the thermosphere gets [MUCH hotter](http://members.tripod.com/atmosphere_guys/thermosphere.html) than what that chart shows, at higher altitudes: > [@](#): > > The actual temperature in the Thermosphere can reach as high as 2000º C! It is so hot here because nitrogen and oxygen in the atmosphere absorb a lot of radiation from space and convert it to heat. This temperature, however, cannot be measured by a conventional thermometer, it would read below 0º C. Special instruments must be used because temperature is a measure of how fast particles move, the faster the particles, the higher the temperature. There are very few particles in the Thermosphere, however, so not enough particles would strike a thermometer to heat it. Also, note the last sentence, which is one reason why it can be so hot yet not make the surface of the earth hot; similarly, the Sun’s [corona](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corona#Physical_features) can be millions of degrees, far hotter (much more so than with Earth) than the surface, but is also about a trillion times less dense. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-oceans-boiling/631800/10 "2012-08-17T22:40:41Z")
Because rock is a very good insulator. Visit Yellowstone National Park sometime. The magma reservoir is possibly as close as four miles from the surface.