pycnocline

Definitions

noun An intermediate layer of oceanic water in which density increases more rapidly with depth than in the layers above and below it.

noun A boundary layer in a body of water between areas of different temperature or salinity.
noun A layer of water where the density changes rapidly with depth

[Greek puknos, thick + –cline.]

Ancient Greek πυκνότητα ("density") + +‎ -cline

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Near the pycnocline (i.e., the region of strongest vertical density gradient) in arctic waters, a restricted vertical supply of nutrients enables the development of a 3 to 10 m thick chlorophyll maximum layer that is strongly light-limited [21].

Physical factors mediating ecological change in the Artic 2009
Pulsed (wind-driven) nutrient supplies associated with passing atmospheric low pressure systems often result in small blooms, however, in arctic waters, the pycnocline is usually too strong to allow a temporary deepening of the surface mixed layer and so bring in nutrients from sub-pycnocline waters [24].

Physical factors mediating ecological change in the Artic 2009
Heat flows downward across the pycnocline causing formation of frazil ice in the lower part of the fresh layer.

Ellesmere Island Ice Shelves « Climate Audit 2007
Fresh water enters the fiord in the form of melt streams which flow down to the pycnocline.

Ellesmere Island Ice Shelves « Climate Audit 2007
Hypoxia occurs below the freshwater driven pycnocline from late February through early October, but it is most widespread, continuous, and severe in June, July, and August.

Gulf of Mexico large marine ecosystem 2008
Iron particles and soluble iron had been carried there along a layer of denser water roughly 100 to 150 meters deep (the pycnocline), and the iron had been stirred up by storms that made it available to near-surface plankton in the dead of winter. "

RealClimate 2009