Ocean Floor Pressure

The enormous pressure at the ocean floor can crush stuff to pulp in a matter of seconds.

Ocean floor pressure. Deep sea exploration is dangerous business. With every foot an object descends into the ocean more water is pushing down and against it and more pressure is exerted upon that object. The un manned sub nereus found this out on saturday as it.

Continental shelf 300 feet continental slope 300 10 000 feet abyssal plain 10 000 feet abyssal hill 3 000 feet up from the abyssal plain seamount 6 000 feet. In fact the reality is the exact opposite of what one would assume. Lying along the top of the abyssal plain is the abyssal zone whose lower boundary lies at about 6 000 m 20 000 ft.

This vehicle allows scientists to observe the deep sea under tremendous ocean pressure. The following features are shown at example depths to scale though each feature has a considerable range at which it may occur. The top of the ocean stays at the top because the water underneath is holding it up.

The pressure increases about one atmosphere for every 10 meters of water depth. Deep ocean water is divided into layers or zones each with typical features of salinity pressure temperature and marine life according to their depth. This graphic shows several ocean floor features on a scale from 0 35 000 feet below sea level.

You don t feel it because the fluids in your body are pushing outward with the same force. Dive down into the ocean even a few feet though and a noticeable change occurs. One would also logically say that this increased pressure should warm up the ocean water to insanely high temperatures at great depths but interestingly enough nothing of the sort happens.

That means the water pressure has to increase the further you descend beneath the surface. In fact for every 10 meters traveled deeper into the ocean there are an additional 6 47kg 14 27lbs of pressure on each square inch of surface. For every 33 feet you descend the pressure increases about another 15 pounds per square inch.