Water Column

A water column is a conceptual column of water from surface to bottom sediments. This concept is used chiefly for environmental studies evaluating the stratification or mixing (e.g., by wind-induced currents) of the thermal or chemically stratified layers in a lake, stream or ocean. Some of the common parameters analyzed in the water column are: pH, turbidity, temperature, salinity, total dissolved solids, various pesticides, pathogens and a wide variety of chemicals and biota.

The concept of water column is quite important, since many aquatic phenomena are explained by the incomplete vertical mixing of chemical, physical or biological parameters. For example, when studying the metabolism of benthic organisms, it is the specific bottom layer concentration of available chemicals in the water column that is meaningful, rather than the average value of those chemicals throughout the water column.

Hydrostatic pressure can be analyzed by the height of a water column, which effectively yields the pressure at a given depth of the column.

The term "water column" is also commonly used in scuba diving to describe the area in which divers ascend and descend.

Read more about Water Column:  See Also

Famous quotes containing the words water and/or column:

    The night was thick and hazy
    When the “Piccadilly Daisy”
    Carried down the crew and captain in the sea;
    And I think the water downed ‘em;
    For they never, never found ‘em,
    And I know they didn’t come ashore with me.
    Charles Edward Carryl (1841–1920)

    Resorts advertised for waitresses, specifying that they “must appear in short clothes or no engagement.” Below a Gospel Guide column headed, “Where our Local Divines Will Hang Out Tomorrow,” was an account of spirited gun play at the Bon Ton. In Jeff Winney’s California Concert Hall, patrons “bucked the tiger” under the watchful eye of Kitty Crawhurst, popular “lady” gambler.
    —Administration in the State of Colo, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)