In some areas of the ocean, generally during the winter season, cooling or net evaporation causes

surface water to become dense enough to sink. Convection penetrates to a level where the density of
the sinking water matches that of the surrounding water. It then spreads slowly into the rest of the
ocean. Other water must replace the surface water that sinks. This sets up the thermohaline circulation.
The basic thermohaline circulation is one of sinking of cold water in the polar regions, chiefly in the
northern North Atlantic and near Antarctica. These dense water masses spread into the full extent of
the ocean and gradually upwell to feed a slow return flow to the sinking regions. A theory for the
thermohaline circulation pattern was proposed by Stommel and Arnold Arons in 1960.

In the Northern Hemisphere the primary region of deep water formation is the North Atlantic; minor
amounts of deep water are formed in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf. A variety of water types contribute
to the so-called North Atlantic Deep Water. Each one of them differs, though they share a common
attribute of being relatively warm (greater than 2° C) and salty (greater than 34.9 parts per thousand)
compared with the other major producer of deep and bottom water, the Southern Ocean (0° C and 34.7
parts per thousand). North Atlantic Deep Water is primarily formed in the Greenland and Norwegian
seas, where cooling of the salty water introduced by the Norwegian Current induces sinking. This water
spills over the rim of the ridge that stretches from Greenland to Scotland, extending to the seafloor to
the south as a convective plume. It then flows southward, pressed against the western edge of the
North Atlantic. Additional deep water is formed in the Labrador Sea. This water, somewhat less dense
than the overflow water from the Greenland and Norwegian seas, has been observed sinking to a depth
of 3,000 metres (about 9,800 feet) within convective features referred to as chimneys. Vertical velocities
as high as 10 cm per second have been observed within these convective features. A third variety of
North Atlantic Deep Water is derived from net evaporation within the Mediterranean Sea. This draws
surface water into the Mediterranean through the Strait of Gibraltar. The mass of salty water formed
within the Mediterranean exits as a deeper stream. It descends to depths of approximately 1,000
metres in the North Atlantic Ocean, forming the uppermost layer of North Atlantic Deep Water. The
outflow in the Strait of Gibraltar reaches as high as 2 metres per second, but its total transport amounts
to only 5 percent of the total North Atlantic Deep Water formed. The outflow of the Mediterranean
plays a significant role in boosting the salinity of North Atlantic Deep Water.

The blend of North Atlantic Deep Water, with a total formation rate of 15 to 20 million cubic metres
(530 to 706 million cubic feet) per second, quickly ventilates the Atlantic Ocean, resulting in a residence
time of less than 200 years. The deep water spreads away from its source along the western side of the
Atlantic Ocean and, on reaching the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, spreads into the Indian and Pacific
oceans. The sinking of North Atlantic Deep Water is compensated for by the slow upwelling of deep
water, mainly in the Southern Ocean, to replenish the upper stratum of water that has descended as
North Atlantic Deep Water. North Atlantic Deep Water exported to the other oceans must be balanced
by the inflow of upper-layer water into the Atlantic. Some water returns as cold, low-salinity Pacific
water through the Drake Passage in the form of what is known as Antarctic Intermediate Water, and
some returns as warm salty thermocline water from the Indian Ocean around the southern rim of Africa.

Remnants of North Atlantic Deep Water mix with Southern Ocean water to spread along the seafloor
into the North Pacific Ocean. Here it upwells to a level of 2,000–3,000 metres (about 6,500–9,800 feet