The NASA Aquarius instrument aboard Argentina's SAC-D satellite is designed to measure global sea surface

salinity. This movie shows salinity patterns as measured by Aquarius from December 2011 through December
2012. Red colors represent areas of high salinity, while blue shades represent areas of low salinity. It is
important to understand salinity, the amount of dissolved salts in water, because it will lead us to better
understanding of the water cycle and can lead to improved climate models. High concentrations (over 37
practical salinity units) are usually in the center of the ocean basins away from the mouths of rivers, which input
fresh water. High concentrations are also in sub-tropical regions due to high rates of evaporation (clear skies,
little rain, and prevailing winds) and in landlocked seas in arid regions. At high latitudes, salinity is low. This
can be attributed to lower evaporation rates and the melting of ice that dilutes seawater. To sum up, salinity is
low where precipitation is greater than evaporation, mainly in coastal or equatorial regions. Credit:
NASA/GSFC/JPL-Caltech
http://science1.nasa.gov/earth-science/oceanography/physical-ocean/salinity/

http://sciencelearn.org.nz/Contexts/The-Ocean-in-Action/Science-Ideas-and-Concepts/Ocean-
salinity

Variation in salinity
The salinity of the ocean varies from place to place, especially at the surface. Much of the ocean has salinity
between 34ppt and 36ppt, but there are places that tend to be higher or lower.

Places of higher salinity

Image: Map of ocean salinity

There are parts of the ocean where hardly any rain falls but warm dry winds cause lots of evaporation. This
evaporation removes water when water vapour rises into the atmosphere, it leaves the salt behind, so the
salinity of the seawater increases. This causes the seawater to become denser. You can see on the map that the
north and south Atlantic have high salinity these are areas where there are strong winds and not much rain.

The Mediterranean Sea in Europe has very high salinity 38ppt or more. It is almost closed from the main
ocean, and there is more evaporation than there is rain or extra freshwater added from rivers.

Places of lower salinity

Some parts of the ocean have lots of rain. The freshwater added at the surface dilutes the seawater, reduces the
salinity and so makes the seawater less dense. Seawater can also be less saline near land, where rivers add
freshwater.

The ocean around Antarctica has a low salinity of just below 34ppt, and around the Arctic it is down to 30ppt in
places. Thawing icebergs add freshwater icebergs that have broken off ice sheets formed over land do not
contain salt, and the freezing of seawater into ice floes removes more salt.

Image: Floating ice

The Baltic Sea, almost enclosed by northern Europe and Scandinavia, has a very low salinity of about 10ppt.
This is mainly due to the huge amount of freshwater added from hundreds of rivers.

What happens when salinity changes

The difference between 34ppt and 36ppt salinity doesnt sound very much, but it is enough to cause a difference
in density. Even slightly denser seawater sinks below less dense water.

However, the effect is greater if the salty water gets cold, as temperature has a greater effect on density than
salinity does. A combination of high salinity and low temperature makes seawater so dense that it sinks to the
bottom of the ocean and flows across ocean basins as deep, slow currents.

Published:
22 June 2010

Here is a map showing the salinity of the surface waters of the ocean, down to a water depth of 50 meters, in
parts of dissolved salt per 1000 (o/oo) parts of sea water.

Image produced by WOCE Ocean Modeling at the Naval Postgraduate School

Compare your observations in this map with your answers to the question in section 6

Where do you find the high salinity waters in the surface of the ocean?

Where do you find low salinity sea water in the surface of the ocean?

Low salinity water (light blue region at 10-150 north) lies in the polar and subpolar regions and near the equator.
The equatorial region of low salinity ocean water lies below an atmospheric region called the "intertropical
convergence zone".

Intertropical Convergence Zone

The intertropical convergence zone moves about the equator as the intense heat in the equatorial area produces a
rising mass of moisture-laden air, thereby creating a region of low atmospheric pressure.

The equatorial low pressure system pulls air and moisture from adjacent regions towards the equator.
Consequently, air masses converge in this region from north and south of the equator, bringing moisture acquired
by evaporation in the subtropical regions.

The warm, humid air along the equator rises (because of its low density) and cools, allowing water vapor to
condense, which results in rainfall, causing precipitation to exceed evaporation in equatorial regions.

Draw a picture of the intertropical convergence zone in your handou

Moving poleward, another region of low sea surface salinity lies around 60 o north and south of the
equator, where once again precipitation is greater than evaporation, due to rising masses of air that
produce heavy rainfall.

Image produced by WOCE Ocean Modeling at the Naval Postgraduate School

In contrast to these low salinty areas, where do you find regions of high salinity sea water?

Regions of high salinity sea water are centered around 30o north and 30o south of the equator (orange regions on
map above) because of excess evaporation in these regions.
As we will see in a future expedition, these areas of high evaporation and ocean salinity are located below high
pressure systems in the atmosphere marked by cold, sinking air, which pushes rain clouds away from these regions
by the wind.

You Should Now Be Able to Develop a Hypothesis

about Each of the Following Questions

How would the salinity be affected by the freezing of ice from seawater, so-called sea ice?

Photo From the Alfred Wegener Institute

How would the ocean's salinity change as a result of rainfall, runoff, or the melting of ice?

March 13, 1999

http://oceansjsu.com/105d/exped_briny/8.html

7. Salinity Summary

Best Time To Water Plants When Should I Water My Vegetable

Garden?

By Heather Rhoades

Watering Plants in the Morning The very best time to water plants is in the early morning, while it is still cool.
This will allow the water to run down into the soil and reach the roots of the plant without too much excess
water lost to evaporation. Watering in the early morning will also make the water available to the plants
throughout the day so that the plants will be able to deal better with the heat of the sun. There is a gardening
myth that watering in the morning will make the plants susceptible to scorch. This is not true. First of all, almost
all areas in the world do not get intense enough sun for water droplets to scorch the plants. Second of all, even if
you live in an area where the sun is that intense, the water droplets would be evaporated in the heat long before
they could focus the sunlight. Watering Plants in the Afternoon Sometimes, due to work and life schedules, it
can be difficult to water the garden in the early morning. The second best time to water a vegetable garden is in
the late afternoon or early evening. If you are watering vegetables in late afternoon, the heat of the day should
have mostly passed, but there should still be enough sun left to dry the plants a bit before night falls. Watering
plants in the late afternoon or early evening also cuts down on evaporation and allows the plants several hours
without sun to take up water into their system. One things to be careful of if you water in the late afternoon is to
make sure that the leaves have a little time to dry before night comes. This is because damp leaves at night
encourage fungus problems, such as powdery mildew or sooty mold, which can harm your vegetable plants. If
you are using a drip or soaker irrigation system, you can water right up until nightfall, as the leaves of the plant
do not get wet with this form of watering.

Read more at Gardening Know How: Best Time To Water Plants When Should I Water My Vegetable Garden?
http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/vgen/water-plants-vegetable-garden.htm