Potential Temperature
D1. Physical and chemical oceanography and marine meteorologyDefinition
Temperature a parcel would have if moved adiabatically to a reference pressure.
Potential temperature is the temperature a water parcel would have if moved adiabatically and without salt exchange to a reference pressure, usually the surface. It removes the warming a parcel gains from compression at depth, so it is conserved under adiabatic displacement and used to compare and trace deep water. In the TEOS-10 framework conservative temperature replaces it as the more accurate heat-content variable.