Recent Publications

Gawarkiewicz, G., Taenzer, L., Silver, A., Ryan, S., Green, E., Gangopadhyay, A., Musgrave, R., Bahr, F., Kukulya, A., and Yoder, N. (2025). Mapping of a Mid-Depth Salinity Maximum Intrusion South of New England in June 2021 and Implications for Cross-Shelf Exchange AGU »

Grodsky, S., Vandemark, D., and Levin, J. (2025). An Eastern Gulf of Maine Salinity Index for Monitoring Winter Scotian Shelf Inflow and Its Relation to Coastal and Interior Pathways AGU »

Hackert, E., Akella, S., Ruiz-Xomchuk, V., Nakada, K., Jacob, M., Drushka, K., Ren, L., and Molod, A. (2025). Impact of Rain-Adjusted Satellite Sea Surface Salinity on ENSO Predictions From the GMAO S2S Forecast System AGU »

Thangaprakash, V., Girishkumar, M., Sureshkumar, N., Ravichandran, M., V. Naidu, C., Ramakrishna, S., and Sahoo, A. (2025). Mixed Layer Salinity Budget in the Northern Bay of Bengal using the Data from a Mooring Array in 2015 Springer »

Miranda, J., Zavala-Romero, O., Hiron, L., Chassignet, E., Subrahmanyam, B., Meunier, T., Helber, W., Pallas- Sanz, E., Tenreiro, M., and Pallas-Sanz, E. (2025). Neural Synthetic Profiles from Remote Sensing and Observations (NeSPReSO)-Reconstructing Temperature and Salinity Fields in the Gulf of Mexico ScienceDirect »

Salt is essential

Circulating through our bodies and our seas, it impacts the health of people and the planet. Salt dissolved in seawater – measured as salinity – drives currents that distribute heat and carbon around the globe. So, salt not only preserves our food, it helps to preserve our climate by contributing to global ocean circulation.

Earth is an ocean planet

Key water cycle processes – precipitation and evaporation – mostly occur over the ocean. Thus, monitoring sea surface salinity patterns provides important clues about changes in our environment.

NASA observes salinity

Merging data from satellites and other instruments, our mission is to better understand ocean circulation, the water cycle, and climate.

How Salty Are You…?

Salinity Stories

HIGHLIGHTS

Sea ice boundary
Iceberg icon

High Latitudes

Salinity is a "key ingredient" for high-latitude ocean ecological communities  »

Cloudy day along the coast
Sun and rain icon

Salinity & Soil Moisture: Water Cycle Links

Water evaporating from the ocean sustains precipitation on land  »

Map of annual averaged surface TA
Shell icon

Monitoring Total Alkalinity & Ocean Acidification

Total alkalinity (TA) is needed to assess ocean acidification  »

LEARN MORE

Iceberg
Saltshaker icon

The Role of Salt

More than just a seasoning  »

Water cycle diagram
Water cycle icon

Following the Water Cycle

Vital to life - critical to understand  »

Temperature-salinity diagram
Circulation icon

Density and Ocean Circulation

Salinity and temperature drive the ocean's motion  »

Sea surface salinity map
Climate icon

Salinity’s Connections to Climate

Salinity - a driving force for weather and climate  »

Global sea surface salinity
Data icon

Measuring Salinity

The perspective from space  »