Enter the total depth of the water into the calculator to determine the estimated water temperature at that depth.

Water Temperature at Depth Formula

The following formula is used to estimate the water temperature of a body of water at a certain depth. 

T = 14,000 / D
  • Where T is the temperature in Farenheit
  • D is the depth in feet

To calculate temperature from water depth, divide 14,000 by the depth in feet.

This formula is only fairly accurate for depth between 250 and 500 feet. Depths outside of those ranges may return inaccurate temperatures.

How does water temperature change with depth?

Water temperature will almost always decrease with an increase in depth. This means that these values are inversely proportional. The larger the depth increases, the more the temperature decreases.

For some portions of the oceans and depths, these values are nearly linearly dependent, but it is not the case for all parts of the ocean. Underwater currents make equations for the relationship between depth and temperature very complicated.

How to calculate water temperature at depth?

Example Problem:

The following example will go over the steps to calculating the temperature of water at a depth between 250 and 500 feet.

First, determine the total depth of the water. In this example, the depth is measured to be 350 feet.

Next, simply enter the depth into the formula above to get your resultant temperature in degrees Fahrenheit.

T = 14,000 / D

T = 14,000 / 350

T = 40 F