Thermostad

Not to be confused with Thermocline.

A thermostad is a homogeneous layer of oceanic waters in terms of temperature, it is defined as a relative minimum of the vertical temperature gradient.^[1] The term was coined in 1966 by R. Carlton Seitz, at the time at the Chesapeake Bay Institute of Johns Hopkins University.^[2] He proposed it as in opposition to a thermocline, in which the thermal gradient is large. The ending "stad" is from the Greek word στάδην meaning "in an upright position", from the root ἵστημι meaning to stand.^[3][4]

The suffix "-stad" is now widely used in oceanography.^[5]