Water Temperature & Depth

[Freeburn]

Hi All,

Is there a general rule of thumb to estimate water temperature at specific depths? For example: if the surface temp is 60F, how deep must you get to reach 50F

Obviously there are many variables that effect temperature, but is there a good way to estimate?

thanks
Sean

[SkeeterJohn]

That's a good question and one i hope someone can answer... We all fish in areas that can be deep and we'll casually stand there and read off "yeah.. 62f here" but that matters very little when you're down 20ft... we should always be thinking about what's happening under the water more.

[Scum Frog]

that is a really good question. For example if the surface is a certain temp, how do you know what depth the thermocline is?

[goudieb]

I don't have a solid answer as to how to predict the temperature at a certain depth relative to the top water temperature, but the following link does explain some of the concepts involved in figuring out the thermocline depth. It's pretty good reading.

http://www.carpanglersgroup.com/StillWa ... ation.html

/Brian

[Freeburn]

WOW. That's a lot of information.

It doesn't seem as simple as I had hoped. I had never considered the cooling effects of the wind and it pushing specific temperatures of water with it.

It appears that water at 39.2F would always remain at the bottom of the water column due to it being the heaviest. The confusing aspect is that colder water can then be anywhere within the water. It isn't as simple as warmest water on top and coldest water at the bottom.

Is there then no general rule of thumb to gauge water temp using depth?

Any other insight and advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks
Sean

[eye-tracker]

I use a tempature probe...every body of water is different. You have natural springs, current and waves which change the tempature of water.

cheers'

-et