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| Description: A third cause of the thermal stability of aquatic environments is the heat energy that water gives up to its environment as it freezes (the latent heat of fusion). Water gives up approximately 80 calories as 1 g of water freezes because the energy of motion of water molecules decreases as they leave the liquid state and become incorporated into the crystalline latticework of ice. So, as 1 g of pond water freezes, it gives off sufficient energy to heat 80 g of water 1°C, thus slowing further cooling. The aquatic environments with greatest thermal stability are generally large ones, such as the open sea. These are environments that store large quantities of heat energy and where daily fluctuations are often less than 1°C. Even the temperatures of small streams, however, usually fluctuate less than the temperatures of nearby terrestrial habitats
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