downwell

downwell verb: to sink below material of lower density.

Verb

downwell (third-person singular simple present downwells, present participle downwelling, simple past and past participle downwelled)

To sink below material of lower density.
- Some of the northward-flowing waters turn eastward and enter the Throughflow sponge above 1300 m (Figure 5b), where they downwell and return to the interior and spread both to the south and the north (Figure 5c).1996, Tong Lee, Jochem Marotzke, Inferring Meridional Mass and Heat Transports of the Indian Ocean by Fitting a General Circulation Model to Climatological Data, page 12
- Ozone in the upper troposphere which downwells to the surface can also result from photochemical production enhanced by high levels of NOx from the natural stratosphere, aircraft emissions of NOx in the upper troposphere [Liu et al., 1980],1999, Katherine Anne Duderstadt, Summertime tropospheric ozone photochemistry over the western Atlantic Ocean, page 10
To penetrate water downward.
- This measurement, as Region 4 stated, has been "commonly used to measure marine turbidity; it does not measure downwelling ambient light."1983, State Waters Resources Control Board, Environmental Impact Report: Amendment of the Water Quality Control Plan, Ocean Waters of California
- There is a practical depth limit from which the radiance is reflected. Gordon & McCluny (1975) call the depth at which the spectral radiance downwelled from the surface falls to 1/e of its initial energy 'the first optical attenuation length'.1988, J. A. Pyle, K. A. Browning, L. Thomas, Towards improved methods of exploiting remotely sensed imagery, page 329

downwell (plural downwells)

A vertical shaft or well in which water flows downward.
- The proposed work includes enlarging the basin and installing downwells for percolation.1981, Final Budget of Stanislaus County and Financial Report
- A 14-foot by 14-foot shaft, or downwell, located downstream of the intake structure permits flow to fall approximately 36 feet to a pool Torraed by a 10-foot deep rock trap.1986, Robert L. Schuster, Landslide dams: processes, risk and mitigation, page 206
Synonym of downwelling.
- Warm-water eddies are downwells and cold-water eddies facilitate vertical mixing rather than induce upwelling.1986, Sea Frontiers, Sea Secrets - Volume 32, page 309
Synonyms:

downwelling

downwell (comparative more downwell, superlative most downwell)

In the lower part of a well.
- By measuring downwell and wellhead temperature, wellbore heat losses through the casing to the formation can be measured.1982, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, A Collection of Technical Papers: AIAA/EPRI International Conference on Underground Pumped Hydro and Compressed Air Energy Storage
- In general, the present-day measured downwell temperatures are lower than those indicated by the alteration mineralogy (i.e. epidote, wairakite, laumontite, and clays)1999, Paul Kruger, Henry J. Ramey, Proceedings -Stanford Geothermal Program Volume 24
towards the nearest planet or other gravity well.
- "[...] spend the two weeks after Translator Dlique's funeral on her estate downwell.2014, Ann Leckie, Ancillary Sword, →ISBN, page 175
- I bought some land downwell.

downwell (comparative more downwell, superlative most downwell)

In the lower part of a well.
- These identification plaques will serve as one aspect of continuing control and are intended to be a long-term indication of a sealed radioactive source downwell.1979, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Annual Report, page 216
- One of the principal techniques available for estimating the distribution of cracks in HDR reservoirs is by the analysis of acoustic events recorded downwell on three-component geophones during hydraulic fracturing.1984, The Geophysical Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, page 12
toward the nearest planet or other gravity well.
- To be safe, we'll have to go downwell.

This cold water downwells and flows below the saltier but warmer surface water.1999, Alison Duxbury, Alyn C. Duxbury, Fundamentals of Oceanography, page 141:
For those animals living in the mesopelagic zone, where some light downwells from the surface, a visual predator looking up at them could see a silhouette.2001, James Willard Nybakken, Marine Biology: An Ecological Approach, page 153:
In other words, the signal always weakens while it downwells.2012 January 17, “Typhoon Tip”, in American Weather:
You can make this system a downwell by adding a water source above the tanks.1989, T. A. Broadley, William Edward Lorne Clayton, British Columbia Manila Clam Culture Workshop, page 167:

Verb
third-person singular present	downwells
present participle	downwelling
past participle	downwelled
past	downwelled
Noun
plural	downwells
Adjective
comparative	more downwell
superlative	most downwell
Adverb
comparative	more downwell
superlative	most downwell

From down- + well.

What does downwell mean?: Downwell means to sink below material of lower density.
How do you use downwell in a sentence?: This cold water downwells and flows below the saltier but warmer surface water.
What part of speech is downwell?: Downwell can be a verb, a noun, an adjective or an adverb.
What is the past tense of downwell?: The past tense of downwell is downwelled.

Adapted from Wiktionary: downwell (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

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