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A thermocline (also known as the thermal layer or the metalimnion in lakes) is a thin but distinct layer in a large body of fluid (e.g. water, such as an ocean or lake, or air, such as an atmosphere) in which temperature changes more rapidly with depth than it does in the layers above or below.
The oceanâs surface water temperature varies with the amount of solarradiation received, which is primarily a function of latitude. â¢ The thermocline (thermo = heat, cline = slope) is the layer of oceanwater between about 300 meters and 1000 meters, where there is arapid change of temperature with depth.