Tracking the Thermocline

Grade:

7

Teacher:

Mr. Greg Gaines

"This project intended to investigate the correlation between lake bed depth and the depth of its thermocline, a transitional layer of water where temperature changes rapidly between the shallow and deep layers. By lowering remote probe thermometers into a lake, water temperatures were obtained at specific depths. I chose this investigation because aquatic science interests me, and I also wanted to learn more about thermoclines, as they were relatively unknown to me. After obtaining measurements and analyzing data, the graphs showed that there was no definable thermocline, probably due to the time of the year that the tests were conducted. However, there were trends in the graphs indicating the presence of the surface and deep layers. I believe that this investigation is important to the both the fields of aquatic and marine biology, as well as to commercial fishing. Thermoclines help scientists study large populations of wildlife, as animals tend to centralize near the thermocline, due to nutrient-rich water. Commercial fishermen recognize thermoclines in order to find higher densities of fish. "

Project presentation