body of ocean water with a distinctive narrow range of temperature and salinity and a particular density resulting from these two parameters. Water masses are formed as the result of climatic effects in specific regions. Antarctic bottom water is an important water mass that forms on the Antarctic continental shelf as a cold, dense residual brine during the formation of sea ice. Its salinity of 34.62 parts per thousand and temperature of -1.9° C (28.6° F) result in a high density of 1.02789 grams per cubic centimetre, causing it to sink and flow northward along the bottom into the southern oceans. Mediterranean (Mediterranean Sea) water is another example of a water mass. Excessive evaporation, low rainfall, and high temperatures continually generate large volumes of warm (11.9° C), salty (36.5 parts per thousand) water. Its density of 1.02778 causes it to sink to the bottom of the Mediterranean and overflow across the submarine sill at the Strait of Gibraltar, whence it sinks and spreads at a depth of about 1,000 metres (3,300 feet) in the Atlantic.

Plotted on temperature–salinity diagrams, samples from a single water mass tend to cluster in unique groups or elongate zones.