Eli5: How does the bottom of the ocean, miles away from sunlight and volcanic action, stay above freezing?

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Obviously all of the ocean is above freezing; but reading about the titanic sub today, I still was surprised to read that it’s still above freezing down 2+ miles down. What keeps it relatively warm? Obviously there is some volcanic activity but it’s not widespread over the entire ocean is it?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

The bottom of the ocean is away from the warm sunlight … but it’s also away from the cold night sky and surface evaporation. So how’s it going to cool down? The earth is very hot in the middle so it’s only near the surface, where the heat can escape, that gets colder.

If anything, it’s surprising that deep water isn’t warmer but water, unlike solid land, it can move around, allowing warm water to naturally rise and cool water to sink. This mobility keeps water temperatures below 1000 metres deep to be very consistent world-wide.

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