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SALINITY

Salinity is a measure of the total amount of dissolved salts in seawater, usually expressed in parts per thousand (ppt). The main salt in seawater is sodium chloride. Global patterns of salinity are determined by evaporation and precipitation rates, with higher salinity in tropical regions with high evaporation and lower salinity at high latitudes and near river outflows. Salinity can be measured through methods like evaporation, density/specific gravity, refractive index, electrical conductivity, and titration. It varies both horizontally due to geographic factors and vertically through the ocean depths.

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NEENU M G
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32 views

SALINITY

Salinity is a measure of the total amount of dissolved salts in seawater, usually expressed in parts per thousand (ppt). The main salt in seawater is sodium chloride. Global patterns of salinity are determined by evaporation and precipitation rates, with higher salinity in tropical regions with high evaporation and lower salinity at high latitudes and near river outflows. Salinity can be measured through methods like evaporation, density/specific gravity, refractive index, electrical conductivity, and titration. It varies both horizontally due to geographic factors and vertically through the ocean depths.

Uploaded by

NEENU M G
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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SALINITY

NEENU. M. G
I M.Sc.
Ad.No:AQB2018/04
Dept. Of Aquatic Biology
& Fisheries
SALINITY
 Seawater is a solution of about 96.5% water & 3.5% dissolved salts.
 Salinity is the total amount of solid materials in grams contained in 1kg of seawater.
 It is usually expressed as ppt/ PSU & written as S%ₒ.
 Most important salt in seawater is NaCl/common table salt.
 75% of seawater has a salinity ranging between 34-35ppt.
Variation In Salinity
 High latitudes have low surface salinity
-High precipitation & runoff
-Low evaporation
 Tropics have high surface salinity
-High evaporation
-Low precipitation
 Equator has a dip in surface salinity
-High precipitation partially offsets high evaporation
SALINITY VARIATION WITH DEPTH
• High latitudes – salinity increases with depth
• Low latitudes – salinity decreases with depth
• Deep ocean salinity fairly consistent globally
• Halocline – separates ocean layers of different salinity
Salinity near the surface in the northern Bay of Bengal can be low as
31ppt because it receives lots of freshwater in the form of rain & from
river runoff.
But in Arabian Sea it is much higher because the evaporation rate is
high there.
Thus we can say that if precipitation exceeds evaporation, salinity
decreases& vice versa.
METHODS OF DETERMINING SALINITY
1.Evaporation:it is the ratio of mass of salts to mass of water
• Expressed in psu
2.Specific gravity/Density:
• By using Hydrometer
• The addition of salts increase the density of seawater as compared to
pure water.
• The salinity can be calculated by measuring the S.G of water sample
using hydrometer
• S.G of freshwater is 1
• As salt is added the S.G will increase
3.Refraction:
• Based upon the refractive index of light passing through a prism
• By using Refractometer.
4.Electrical Conductivity: The conductivity of sea water depends on the number of
dissolved ions per volume (i.e. Salinity)and the mobility of the ions (i.e temperature
and pressure).
• Its units are mS/cm.
• Conductivity increases by the same amount with a salinity increase of 0.01psu.
5.Titration: the amount of halogens(Cl¯, Br¯,I¯ & F¯) in the water sample(Chlorinity)
is determined by using AgNO3 titration method.
• Thus salinity is calculated by Salinity=1.80655x Chlorinity
Thus by the Commission of the International Council for the
Exploration of the Sea , Salinity is :
“total amount of solid materials in grams contained in 1Kg of seawater
when all the carbonate has been converted to oxide, the Br & I replaced
by Cl & all organic matter completely oxidized”.

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