Comments on: An Oceanographer And The Water Cycle http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/fromthefield/2012/09/19/an-oceanographer-and-the-water-cycle/?src=fromthefield-rss NASA scientists are in the field and write home to tell about it. Tue, 23 Apr 2013 07:52:21 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Eric Lindstrom http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/fromthefield/2012/09/19/an-oceanographer-and-the-water-cycle/comment-page-1/#comment-29033 Eric Lindstrom Thu, 20 Sep 2012 12:04:31 +0000 http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/fromthefield/?p=4518#comment-29033 OOPS! Let me correct the last sentence! (I should drink my coffee before answering questions..)

It should say:

The salinity balance in the upper ocean in this region where E-P is POSITIVE is the focus of this SPURS expedition. In some future year we plan to focus studies on a place where E-P is NEGATIVE (a quite rainy spot).

]]> By: Eric Lindstrom http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/fromthefield/2012/09/19/an-oceanographer-and-the-water-cycle/comment-page-1/#comment-29031 Eric Lindstrom Thu, 20 Sep 2012 10:25:43 +0000 http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/fromthefield/?p=4518#comment-29031 Christopher,
Parts of the ocean may get saltier or fresher because of the dominance of evaporation or precipitation (respectively) in the local water balance. Oceanographers look at maps of the difference between Evaporation and Precipitation (E-P) over the ocean around the globe. Those maps look very much like the maps of ocean surface salinity. It is saltier where E-P is positive and fresher where E-P is negative. For our purposes the overall the amount of salt in the global ocean stays constant – its the fresh water moving in and out of the ocean that changes surface salinity patterns (along with some other smaller but important factors like ocean currents and mixing). The salinity balance in the upper ocean in this region where E-P is negative is the focus of this SPURS expedition. In some future year we plan to focus studies on a place where E-P is positive (a quite rainy spot).
Eric

]]> By: christopher http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/fromthefield/2012/09/19/an-oceanographer-and-the-water-cycle/comment-page-1/#comment-29029 christopher Wed, 19 Sep 2012 23:20:55 +0000 http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/fromthefield/?p=4518#comment-29029 I did not know the ocean was salty do to a lack of rain.

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