dead water
Current-free maritime zone
Dead water is stagnant water with no current or circulation—a pond with no inlet, a harbor corner where nothing flows.
Ships encounter dead water when a layer of fresh water sits atop denser salt water, creating internal waves that mysteriously slow or stall the vessel despite adequate wind.
The term also describes the turbulent wake directly behind a moving ship.
Lacking all movement
- stillUnmoving, or continuing
- brackishMildly salty water
- murkyDark and unclear
- sluggishSlow and inactive
foul · putrid · stale · dormant · algae · mosquitoes · silt · decay
Division into distinct levels
- haloclineSharp saltiness change layer
- thermoclineRapid temperature-change layer
- densityMass-to-volume ratio
- freshwaterNon-saline aquatic environment
saltwater · buoyancy · limnology · oceanography · fluid dynamics · layers · interface · mixing
Resistance through fluid
- resistanceCapacity to withstand force
- wakePath left in water
- hullOuter covering or frame
- shipSeagoing transport vessel
vessel · stern · propulsion · slowdown · momentum · sailing · maritime · towing
Resembling a specter
- hauntingDisturbingly unforgettable
- mysteriousBeyond easy comprehension
- spectralGhostlike or wavelength-related
- supernaturalBeyond natural explanation
otherworldly · phantom · cursed · ominous · foreboding · folklore · legend · superstition
motionless
Lacking all movement
sluggish · foul · putrid · stale · dormant · algae · mosquitoes · silt · decay · anaerobic
stratification
Division into distinct levels
- haloclineSharp saltiness change layer
- thermoclineRapid temperature-change layer
- densityMass-to-volume ratio
freshwater · saltwater · buoyancy · limnology · oceanography · fluid dynamics · layers · interface · mixing · fjord
drag
Resistance through fluid
- resistanceCapacity to withstand force
- wakePath left in water
- hullOuter covering or frame
ship · vessel · stern · propulsion · slowdown · momentum · sailing · maritime · towing · friction
ghostly
Resembling a specter
- hauntingDisturbingly unforgettable
- mysteriousBeyond easy comprehension
- spectralGhostlike or wavelength-related
supernatural · otherworldly · phantom · cursed · ominous · foreboding · folklore · legend · superstition · uncanny
- still watersstill pond, millpond, mill pond, reflecting pool, natural pool
- Slavic folkloreBaba Yaga, vampire, Ivan, mora, Firebird
- Ocean Phenomenatsunami, tides, rogue wave, ocean current, swells
- water currentscurrent, flow, riptide, eddy, river flow
- backwater lakesoxbow lake, billabong
- Romanian Folklorehora, Transylvania, Dracula, Vlad the Impaler, duh
dead waterrapids
Turbulent river section
rushing water · white water · running water · moving water · whitewater
dead, water, deaden, deadened, deadening, deadly, deadness, deader, deadest