HomeWHICHWhich Process Increases The Salinity Of Ocean Water

Which Process Increases The Salinity Of Ocean Water

Water moves through the earth system. Not only in flowing rivers but as a continual cycle of evaporation and as rain and snow. Over 96% of Earth’s water is contained in the ocean. So, it is not surprising that ocean plays a driving role in the global water cycle. Moreover, patterns of ocean salinity reflect – to some extent – water cycle trends.

Analyzing these trends is critical because global warming has intensified the water cycle. Warmer air can hold more water. This can increase the atmosphere’s potential to evaporate and precipitate. Scientists use salinity data to analyze such trends over the ocean. For the most part, areas that are dry are getting drier and wet areas are getting wetter. How does this affect salinity? Low salinity – or “fresh” areas – are getting fresher and salty areas are getting saltier. Satellites reveal changes at the ocean surface while in-water instruments see it at depth. But the “salty dialog” between the surface and depth is complex. Deeper waters act as a buffer, dampening changes on the surface, but are also impacted by surface changes. Such complexity is one reason why salinity is a key focus of climate change studies.

Related Publications

  • Yu, L. (2023). Connecting Subtropical Salinity Maxima to Tropical Salinity Minima: Synchronization Between Ocean Dynamics and the Water Cycle, Prog. Oceanogr., 219, 103172, doi: 10.1016/j.pocean.2023.103172.
  • Chang, Y.-L., Varlamov, S., Guo, X., Miyama, T., and Miyazawa, Y. (2023). July 2020 Heavy Rainfall in Japan: Effect of Real-Time River Discharge on Ocean Circulation Based on a Coupled River-Ocean Model, Ocean Dyn., 73, 249-265, doi: 10.1007/s10236-023-01551-1.
  • Liu, M., Vecchi, G., Soden, B., Yang, W., and Zhang, B. (2021). Enhanced Hydrological Cycle Increases Ocean Heat Uptake and Moderates Transient Climate Change, Nat. Clim. Change, 11, 848-853.
  • Dorigo, W., Dietrich, S., Aires, F., Brocca, L., Carter, S., Cretaux, J., Dunkerley, D., Enomoto, H., Forsberg, R., Güntner, A., Hegglin, M. I., Hollmann, R., Hurst, D. F., Johannessen, J. A., Kummerow, C., Lee, T., Luojus, K., Looser, U., Miralles, D. G., Pellet, V., Recknagel, T., Vargas, C. R., Schneider, U., Schoeneich, P., Schröder, M., Tapper, N., Vuglinsky, V., Wagner, W., Yu, L., Zappa, L., Zemp, M., and Aich, V. (2021). Closing the Water Cycle from Observations across Scales: Where Do We Stand?, Bull. Amer. Meteorol. Soc., 102 (10), E1897-E1935, doi: 10.1175/BAMS-D-19-0316.1.
  • Ummenhofer, C.C., Murty, S.A., Sprintall, J., Lee, T., and Abram, N.J. (2021). Heat and Freshwater Changes in the Indian Ocean Region, Nat. Rev. Earth Environ., 2, 525-541 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-021-00192-6.
  • Fournier, S. and Lee, T. (2021). Seasonal and Interannual Variability of Sea Surface Salinity Near Major River Mouths of the World Ocean Inferred from Gridded Satellite and In-Situ Salinity Products, Remote Sens. 2021, 13(4), 728, doi: 10.3390/rs13040728.
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