Water cycle effects on ocean salinity

Water Cycle Effects on Ocean Salinity

Alt Tag: Water cycle effects on ocean salinity.
Description: Sea surface salinity is a key tracer for understanding how fresh water cycles in and out of the ocean. Some processes in the global water cycle increase salinity, while other processes decrease it. Earth's "water cycle" is dominated by exchanges between the ocean and atmosphere. In fact, 86% of global evaporation and 78% of global precipitation occur over the ocean. Although the amount of salt in the ocean is relatively constant on time scales of years to decades, ocean surface salinity patterns vary constantly because of freshwater input and output. Credit: NASA Aquarius.