Factors such as density, temperature, and salinity can all be used to identify these masses and their origins as well as where they are in the water column.
The ways in which the isopycnals and diapycnals are transformed can be used by oceanographers to identify the force that caused the underwater disturbance.
These mixing processes are essential for nutrient distribution and the upwelling of cold bottom water.
In the atmosphere, varying degrees of humidity, temperature, and pressure change the density of air.
Isopycnals are not used in meteorology as frequently as they are in oceanography, since the density gradients observed in the atmosphere are typically gradual,[3] unlike in stratified bodies of water.