Sea Surface Salinity Trend

  • Released Wednesday, August 24, 2022
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This data visualization shows the areas where sea surface salinity has increased (depicted in red) and descreased (depicted in blue) over ten years (2011 to 2021).

This data visualization shows the areas where sea surface salinity has increased (depicted in red) and descreased (depicted in blue) over ten years (2011 to 2021).

The heat of the sun forces evaporation at the ocean's surface, which puts water vapor into the atmosphere but leaves minerals and salts behind, keeping the ocean salty. The salinity of the ocean also varies from place to place, because evaporation varies based on the sea surface temperature and wind, rivers and rain storms inject fresh water into the ocean, and melting or freezing sea ice affects the salinity of polar waters.

This depicts the surface salinity concentration trend from 2011 to 2021.

Colorbar for decadal trend of sea surface salinity covering 2011 to 2021. Areas in red are where surface salinity measurements have increased and areas in blue are where surface salinity has decreased.

Colorbar for decadal trend of sea surface salinity covering 2011 to 2021. Areas in red are where surface salinity measurements have increased and areas in blue are where surface salinity has decreased.

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio

This page was originally published on Wednesday, August 24, 2022.
This page was last updated on Sunday, April 7, 2024 at 12:16 AM EDT.

Datasets used in this visualization

  • Comiso's Daily Sea Ice Concentration

    ID: 539
    Type: Data Compilation Dates used: 9/1/2011 - 9/1/2021
    See all pages that use this dataset

  • OISSS_L4_multimission_7day_v1 (Multi-Mission Optimally Interpolated Sea Surface Salinity Global Dataset V1) [Data Compilation: SMAP/SMAP L-BAND RADIOMETER, SAC-D/AQUARIUS_SCATTEROMETER, SMOS/SMAP L-BAND RADIOMETER]

    ID: 1156
    Type: Data Compilation Sensor: SMAP/SMAP L-BAND RADIOMETER, SAC-D/AQUARIUS_SCATTEROMETER, SMOS/SMAP L-BAND RADIOMETER Dates used: 9/1/2011 - 9/1/2021

    Credit: Creator: Oleg Melnichenko

    This dataset can be found at: https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/dataset/OISSS_L4_multimission_7day_v1

    See all pages that use this dataset

Note: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details, nor the data sets themselves on our site.