Ocean science news, explainers, and statistics covering marine environments, currents, climate, coasts, seafloor research, and the changing global ocean.
Estuaries can be classified into five major circulation types: salt-wedge, fjord, slightly stratified, vertically mixed and freshwater. The categories describe how fresh water and seawater move or mix, not simply the shape of the coast. Density creates the starting pattern. Fresh river water is lighter and tends to flow seaward over denser saltwater entering below.…
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A halocline is a layer in a body of water where salinity changes rapidly with depth. Oceanographers recognize it by measuring a much larger salt difference over a short vertical distance than in the water above or below. The change may occur across several meters or span a much thicker band, depending on the place…
An ocean salinity map uses color to show how dissolved salt varies across the sea. Begin with the legend, because the colors have no universal meaning. Then check whether the map represents the surface or a deeper level, a single date or a long-term average. Those choices determine what every pattern can support. Most global…
Satellites measure sea-surface salinity indirectly by detecting faint microwave energy emitted by the ocean. The strength of that natural emission changes slightly with salt concentration. Radiometers record the signal, then retrieval algorithms correct for water temperature, surface roughness and other interference before converting it into a salinity estimate. The measurement covers only the ocean’s uppermost…
