Ocean Temperature and Salinity

Ocean Temperature and Salinity

Like land masses, ocean waters also vary in temperature from place to place, both at the surface and at its depths. As the warming and cooling of water is slower than the land, the annual range of temperature in any part of the ocean is very much lower. The mean annual temperature of the ocean water in equatorial regions is about 21^o C and almost drops down to freezing point at the polar region.

The degree of concentration of salts in the sea water is called salinity. It is usually expressed in terms of parts per thousand (ppt or ‰). Salinity varies both horizontally and vertically. The influence of temperature on ocean salinity depends upon the heating up of the surface water, which varies from tropics to polar regions. When the sun heats up the surface layer of water in the tropics, the salt content is left out in the oceans after evaporation. Thus salinity is maximum at the tropics and lower at the equator and the poles.