What are the conditions of the midnight zone?

What are the conditions of the midnight zone?

The ocean’s midnight zone is a region between one and four kilometres deep, where no sunlight at all penetrates the frigid water. With no light, there is no growth of plants or phytoplankton – all animals are thus predators or scavengers.

How do fish survive in the midnight zone?

Life in the Midnight Zone has adapted to survive in incredible, alien ways. From huge eyes and red skin, to glowing lures and protruding jaws. Since there are no traces of light, fish like the Barreleye fish have developed huge, ultra-sensitive eyes that can detect even the slightest rays of light.

What zone of the ocean is the midnight zone?

The bathyal zone or bathypelagic – from Greek βαθύς (bathýs), deep – (also known as midnight zone) is the part of the open ocean that extends from a depth of 1,000 to 4,000 m (3,300 to 13,100 ft) below the ocean surface. It lies between the mesopelagic above, and the abyssopelagic below.

What is deeper than the midnight zone?

Hadalpelagic Zone – Beyond the abyssopelagic zone lies the forbidding hadalpelagic zone. This layer extends from 6,000 meters (19,686 feet) to the bottom of the deepest parts of the ocean.

What is the salinity of the mesopelagic zone?

between 34.5 and 35 psu
The variation in salinity is smaller, typically between 34.5 and 35 psu. The density ranges from 1023 to 1027 g/l of seawater.

What is the salinity of the bathypelagic zone?

between 34 and 36 parts per thousand
Salinities typically range between 34 and 36 parts per thousand in the bathyal zone, varying with local conditions of water-mass formation.

What is the salinity of the Mesopelagic zone?

Which ocean zone is the saltiest?

Of the five ocean basins, the Atlantic Ocean is the saltiest. On average, there is a distinct decrease of salinity near the equator and at both poles, although for different reasons. Near the equator, the tropics receive the most rain on a consistent basis.

What is the pressure in the midnight zone?

5850 pounds per square inch
The pressure in the bathypelagic zone is extreme and at depths of 13,100 feet (4,000 meters), reaches over 5850 pounds per square inch! Yet, sperm whales can dive down to this level in search of food.

What ocean zone has the most salinity?

How deep is the midnight zone?

between 1,000 and 4,000 meters
The aphotic zone is further subdivided into the bathypelagic zone (or midnight zone) between 1,000 and 4,000 meters, the abyssopelagic (or the abyss) between 4,000 and 6,000 meters, and the hadopelagic zone (or hadal zone) 6,000 meters and deeper.

What is the water pressure in the abyssal zone?

This region also contains a much higher concentration of nutrient salts, like nitrogen, phosphorus, and silica, due to the large amount of dead organic material that drifts down from the above ocean zones and decomposes. The water pressure can reach up to 76 megapascal.

Is there oxygen in the midnight zone?

Situated between the mesopelagic zone or “twilight zone” and the abyssopelagic zone, also known as “the abyss,” the pitch-black midnight zone includes the oxygen minimum zone. Most vampire squids hang out in this low-oxygen area a mile to a mile and a half below the surface.

Which region has least salinity?

The ocean around Antarctica has a low salinity of just below 34ppt, and around the Arctic it is down to 30ppt in places. Thawing icebergs add freshwater – icebergs that have broken off ice sheets formed over land do not contain salt, and the freezing of seawater into ice floes removes more salt.

Where is salinity the lowest in the ocean?

the Arctic
The ocean around Antarctica has a low salinity of just below 34ppt, and around the Arctic it is down to 30ppt in places. Thawing icebergs add freshwater – icebergs that have broken off ice sheets formed over land do not contain salt, and the freezing of seawater into ice floes removes more salt.

Which part of the ocean has the lowest salinity?

the Arctic Ocean
The least saline ocean, by comparison, is the Arctic Ocean, which has a typical salinity of 28–30 g/kg owing to the low rate of evaporation and meltwater from the ice-caps.

What is the salinity of the hadalpelagic zone?

The salinity was constant at ∼34.6 below 1,500 mbs and slightly increased below 9,000 mbs, as reported in previous studies (9, 18).

Which process increases the salinity of ocean water?

Evaporation
Evaporation of ocean water and formation of sea ice both increase the salinity of the ocean. However these “salinity raising” factors are continually counterbalanced by processes that decrease salinity such as the continuous input of fresh water from rivers, precipitation of rain and snow, and melting of ice.