Add roughly one atmosphere of water pressure per 10 meters, plus the atmosphere already pressing on the sea surface. At 1,000 meters the total is about 100 atmospheres; near Challenger Deep it is roughly 1,100.
Three things to know
- Rule of thumb
- +1 atm / 10 m
- An educational approximation; water density and gravity vary.
- At 1,000 m
- ~100 atm
- About 1,470 pounds per square inch in total pressure.
- Deepest trenches
- ~1,100 atm
- More than 16,000 pounds per square inch.
The weight of the water column
Pressure is force per unit area. Deeper water has a taller column of seawater above it, so the force rises nearly linearly with depth. The exact conversion depends on seawater density, local gravity and atmospheric conditions.
Why deep animals are not crushed
Many deep-sea organisms lack large gas-filled spaces, allowing internal fluids to remain close to ambient pressure. Their proteins and membranes are chemically adapted to function under compression. Bringing them upward quickly can be more damaging than life at their native depth.
Engineering the opposite problem
A human-occupied submersible must keep its interior near one atmosphere while resisting enormous external pressure. That difference loads the pressure hull. Remotely operated vehicles can expose more components to seawater pressure, but electronics, seals and buoyancy materials still require specialized design.
What people usually ask
Is pressure exactly one atmosphere every 10 meters?
No. It is a useful rule of thumb; actual pressure changes with density, gravity and local atmospheric pressure.
Does a fish feel pressure the way a diver does?
Not if its internal fluids and tissues are equilibrated. Gas-filled spaces and rapid pressure changes create the larger problems.
Here’s where the answer came from
Open the original government science or research-institution source behind this page.