What is the salinity of the Atlantic Ocean?

It is worth starting with the interpretation of such a thing as"world ocean" is the water surface of the whole Earth, surrounded by land (continents, islands, etc.). In Russia and in a number of European countries it is divided into four parts (oceans): the Atlantic, the Pacific, the Indian, the Arctic.

Many hundreds of millions of years ago North andSouth America, Africa, Antarctica and Europe - it was a solid array of land. The last few million years were marked by such an event as the disclosure of the ocean basin, after which land began to be divided into continents (this trend is relevant today).

The Atlantic Ocean had a variety of names: Atlantic, “the sea behind the pillars of Hercules”, the Western Ocean, the Sea of ​​Darkness. At the beginning of the XVI century. cartographer M. Waldzemüller called this ocean the Atlantic.

It is recognized as the second largest ocean of the Earth afterSilent. The ocean in question is located between Africa and Europe (in the east), Iceland and Greenland (in the north), South America and North (in the west), Antarctica and South America (in the south).

It has a strongly broken coastline with a pronounced division into separate regional water areas: bays and seas.

Atlantic Ocean Salinity

It is recognized as the saltiest ocean.The salinity of the Atlantic Ocean in ppm, according to official data, is 35.4. Its greatest value is observed in the Sargasso Sea. This is due to strong evaporation and considerable distance from the river flow. The salinity of the Atlantic Ocean in some areas (at the bottom of the Red Sea) reached a value of 270 (almost saturated solution). Sharp desalination of ocean water was noted in the estuarine areas (for example, at the mouth of the La Plata river - about 18-19 ‰).

The salinity distribution in the ocean is not always zonal. It depends on the following reasons:

• evaporation;
• the amount and mode of precipitation;
• inflow of water with currents from other latitudes;
• the volume of fresh water delivered by rivers.

Where is the highest concentration of salinity in the ocean under consideration?

It accounts mainly for tropicallatitude (37.9). Coordinates of the area - 20-25 ° S. sh. (South Atlantic), 20-30 ° c. sh. (North Atlantic). In these places, mainly the trade-wind circulation, there is not enough rainfall, evaporation by a layer of 3 m, fresh water practically does not come here.

Slightly more salinity is traced in the Northern Hemisphere (in places of temperate latitudes). All the currents of the North Atlantic flow there.

The salinity of the waters of the Atlantic Ocean: equatorial latitudes

It reaches a level of 35 ‰.The salinity of the waters (the Atlantic Ocean) changes here as it deepens. This level was recorded at a depth of about 100–200 m. This is due to the surface flow of Lomonosov. It is known that the salinity of the surface layer in some cases is not identical to the salinity at depth. The salinity index mentioned earlier decreases sharply in a collision with the Gulf Stream and the Labrador Current, the result of which is 31-32.

The specifics of the Atlantic Ocean

These are the so-called submarine sources -underground fresh water. One has long been well known to sailors. This source is located east of the peninsula called Florida (where seafarers replenish fresh water). It is a sandy area in the salty Atlantic Ocean with a length of up to 90 m. Fresh water hits at a forty-meter depth, then tends to the surface. This is a kind of typical phenomenon - unloading of the source in the areas of karst development or within the limits of tectonic disturbances. In a situation where the pressure of groundwater significantly exceeds the pressure of the column of sea salt water, unloading will immediately begin - the process of outpouring of groundwater.

What is the salinity of the water?

A well-known fact is that water isExcellent solvent, therefore, in nature there is no water that does not contain soluble substances. Distilled water can be obtained exclusively in the laboratory.

Salinity is the substance content in grams,dissolved in a liter (kg) of water. As mentioned earlier, the salinity of the Atlantic Ocean in ppm is 35.4. On average, 35 g of various substances are dissolved in 1 liter of ocean water. In percentage terms, this is 3.5%. Thus, the percentage salinity of the Atlantic Ocean will also be approximately 3.5%. However, it is usually expressed in thousandths of a number (ppm).

В океанской воде содержатся в разных пропорциях solutions of all known substances on earth. The salinity of the Atlantic Ocean (as well as all other oceans) is the result of its high content of common salt. Magnesium salts add to the bitterness of the ocean water. In it were also found: silver, aluminum, gold, copper. They make up a very small proportion, for example, 2 thousand tons of water contain a gram of gold. Obviously, to extract it simply does not make sense.

Существенное количество растворенных веществ difficult to detect due to their meager content. However, in the aggregate, this is already a huge amount (if all the ocean water could be evaporated, these substances would cover the bottom of the World Ocean with a layer of 60 m). From their total volume, you can even create a shaft 1 km wide, and a height of 280 m, girdling along the Earth's equator.

Atlantic Ocean: depth, area, sea

As it became known, the first distinctivefeature - the salinity of the Atlantic Ocean. In meters, the indicator of its depth reaches 3,700, and at the deepest point - 8,742 m. Its area is 92 million square meters. km

The seas of the Atlantic Ocean are: the Mediterranean, Caribbean, Sargasso, Marmara, Aegean, Tyrrhenian, Northern, Baltic, Adriatic, Black, Weddell, Azov, Irish, Ionian.

Atlantic Ocean Salinity

Factors affecting salinity in the ocean

There are at least four main ones. The salinity of the Atlantic Ocean (as well as any other water body) depends on the following processes:

• evaporation of water from the ocean surface;
• freshwater inflow into the ocean (runoff, precipitation, etc.);
• dissolving saline rocks in water;
• decomposition of dead animals.

The high salinity is also associated with the influx of salt water from the Mediterranean Sea through the Strait of Gibraltar.

Раньше гибло от жажды очень много моряков в the ocean. Later, seafarers began to stock up a significant amount of fresh water, which took up too much space. Now on ships water is desalinated through special desalination plants.