The photo is sourced from rscf.ru
The authors of the study traced how salinity of the North Atlantic Ocean was changing between 1948 – 2018. To this end, the scientists made a mathematical comparison of eight different databases on the North Atlantic salinity, which allowed them to identify regions where all or almost all sources indicated a change in salt content, as well as the areas for which the available data were insufficient for making unambiguous conclusions.
The analysis showed that salinity almost did not change over three quarters of the North Atlantic Ocean. However, it increased by 0.07 ppm in subtropical latitudes and by 0.1 ppm in some small areas. These are areas near the Canary Islands, in Guiana Currents and Labrador Currents and in the area of the Gulf Stream transition to the North Atlantic Current. By comparison, the Atlantic Ocean’s average salinity is 35.4 ppm.
This, in turn, will have not only climatic but also economic consequences. For example, one of the richest fishing grounds of the World Ocean is near the Canary Islands. Over 500 fish species have been caught there. According to the scientists, catches would decline markedly as increased salinity will prevent rising to the surface of nutrient-rich cold water.
“Global climate change is uneven: its pace has accelerated over the last 30-40 years. In the future, we plan to assess salinity change since 1980, as the number of observations increases during that period, and we try to use all the available data when assessing the changes. This will help us identify patterns of changes in a global water cycle,” the Russian Science Foundation quotes Pavel Sukhonos, PhD in Physics and Mathematics.
