Today a sattelite has been sent to start orbitting our planet and map ocean surface salinity by NASA. The information gathered is going to be added to global modelling systems for global climate change. The satellite is going to measure the salinity of all ice free ocean every 7 days for the next 3 years! therefore removing inaccuracies that have occured in previous decades as this will be the first time that ocean salinity will be measured using the same method world wide. One other similar satellite (call Smos) was sent into orbit by the EU.
The salinity will be measured by radio receivers measuring the microwave emissions being emitted from the surface; these emissions vary with the electroconductivity of water which is linked to that of how much salt is dissolved in water. The satellite is so sensitive that from one month to another it will be able to detect changes as small as 0.2 parts per thousand!
At the moment 86% of global evaporation occurs at oceans with 78% of the worlds precipitation then falls back over the oceans. therefore if these rates change then the salinity of the sea water also changes due to salt not being evaporated.
it is thought that understanding salinity is the missing link in understanding the hydrological systems. Therefore it is thought that the 3.5% salt found in oceans is just as responsible for the movement of ocean currents as the temperature alone. Salinity affects the oceans temperatures ,
The results will be very important to understanding the Thermohaline circulation in detail which is know to be caused by surface wind, tempreature and the salinity of the water (thermo= temperature and haline=salinity) where some of the water transprorted can take as long as 1600 years before it upwells!
At the moment 86% of global evaporation occurs at oceans with 78% of the worlds precipitation then falls back over the oceans. therefore if these rates change then the salinity of the sea water also changes due to salt not being evaporated.
it is thought that understanding salinity is the missing link in understanding the hydrological systems. Therefore it is thought that the 3.5% salt found in oceans is just as responsible for the movement of ocean currents as the temperature alone. Salinity affects the oceans temperatures ,
The results will be very important to understanding the Thermohaline circulation in detail which is know to be caused by surface wind, tempreature and the salinity of the water (thermo= temperature and haline=salinity) where some of the water transprorted can take as long as 1600 years before it upwells!
