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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>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?

Water is at its densest at 4°C. Anything above and below that is less dense and will rise above the 4°C water. That means any body of water will always and only ever freeze **from the top to the bottom**. No matter what happens, convection currents will keep the bottom at 4°C *at the very least*, unless the rest of the water has already frozen.

So why is the bottom of the ocean above freezing? Because the top of the ocean is above freezing.

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