What term describes the weight that water exerts downwards?

The term that best describes the weight that water exerts downwards is water pressure. Water pressure refers specifically to the force that water exerts on any surface, which increases with the depth of the water column. As you go deeper in a body of water, the weight of the water above pushes down on the water below, resulting in increased pressure. This principle is fundamental in understanding various phenomena in oceanography and fluid mechanics, such as how submarines are designed to withstand immense pressures at great depths.

While hydrostatic pressure is also closely related, it specifically refers to the pressure exerted by a fluid at equilibrium due to the force of gravity. The term water pressure is more commonly used in a general sense to describe the weight of water exerted in various contexts, including the vertical downward force. Water density, on the other hand, talks about the mass of water in a given volume, and fluid weight is a broad term that does not specifically capture the concept of exertion downward due to gravitational force.