What makes ocean water so clear you can see to the bottom? Like water in the Carribean. ?

Question

In san diego ca, ocean water is a murky blue/green. But in places like key west and the caribbean the water is so clear you can see down to the bottom. Other than pollution, what cause this difference?

Answer 1

One major reason water further up north is more of a darker color [ greenish ] is due to temperatures because in these regions oceans are more colder they support more iron which comes up from deep below which in turn feeds more [plants] Phytoplankton/plankton /algae which in turns give the depiction of greener colour,or bluish green colour which reacts with the sun,these items are very important even though they are an eye sore to us,for small fish which in turns feed larger fish stock in our ocean which we depend on for protein, they are much needed.

Warmer waters will not support larg amounts of such creatures,in some cases killing algae and etc, warmer waters & due to less iron and other minerals which are very important,coral reefs also play a vital role in clear water by producing white sandy beaches even under a few feet of water, as sunlight scatters and less of its colour spectrum is absorb to the shore line.

Pollution also plays a huge role so sewage and other industrial waste produce more bad algae which interacts and damage or destroy a reef all together.

Kingston harbour is a great example its totally dominated by algae produce by pollution,no longer is its shore line cristal clear but green or dark green in some spots.

7 months ago

Answer 2

Basically plankton thrive in colder water. The water in the Pacific is colder,  so there is more plankton, which makes the water a murky blue. In the Caribbeans the water is hotter so less plankton thrive, therefore the water is clearer.

Answer 3

its not dirty...

Answer 4

it's warmer those paces i think that has to do with it .  

Answer 5

Too salty for the algae to grow?

Answer 6

It depends on the sea bed sand .... and also depends on the salinity of the ocean water