How Does Water Stabilize Temperature?

1. It's a good thing water is so abundant on Earth. On all scales---from the level of cells to the level of oceans---water has a leveling effect on temperature. Unlike most other substances, water has unique chemical properties that insulate it from sudden temperature changes and even help buffer temperature shifts in the surrounding medium, like air. Of these properties, the most important is water's high specific heat. A material's specific heat is defined as the amount of heat per unit of mass (usually a gram) that's required to raise the temperature by one degree Celsius. Water's specific heat is one calorie per gram---higher than any other abundant substance on the planet. Water is able to absorb an unusually high amount of heat before its own temperature climbs.
2. Water's high specific gravity makes it the ideal coolant in car engines and factories. It also explains why lake water stays warm into the fall and may not reach summer temperature until well after the air does. This effect influences the air to a lesser extent, particularly near the oceans, by slowing the rate of summer temperature spikes and temperature declines in the fall. This added stability is a life-saving asset for plants and animals that aren't able to withstand extreme temperature fluctuations. Of course, stories in ecology are rarely simple, and the degree to which water buffers any system is influenced by the location, the volume of water, its exposure to sunlight or shade, and whether it flows into an ocean or a stream.
3. Even if they don't conduct them, many children hear about fish bowl experiments, where alternately warm and cold water could be poured into the fish bowl. Even when the range is just a few degrees, the drastic, sudden shifts will kill a goldfish. The same principle holds true in natural systems. Water temperature alone determines which animals can live in an area. Some animals are able to function only within a narrow temperature range, or have life stages that are triggered by specific temperature regimes. Secondarily, water temperature affects life by determining the amount of oxygen that's available for respiration as well as the rate of biological and chemical processes. In general, higher temperatures reduce the availability of oxygen and speed up most chemical and biological reactions.

Resources

• The Engineering Toolbox on water
• Wilkes University

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