Earth  ID: 5017

A Decade of Sea Surface Salinity

Visualizations by Alex Kekesi Released on August 26, 2022
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This data visualization shows sea surface salinity (i.e., ocean salt concentration) over a ten year period (2011 to 2021). Warm colors (orange to yellow) are areas of high salinity/hot tropics. Cooler colors (blue to violet) are fresher waters, many of which can be seen coming from rainy/river/wetter tropics.
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.
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Sea Surface Salinity (i.e., ocean salt) colorbar.
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Date overlay for above data visualization.
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Example composite animation using the colorbar and date overlays.
 

Older Versions

Aquarius Sea Surface Salinity 2011-2014 - Flat Maps
Ocean Salinity and Daily Argo Coverage
Aquarius Sea Surface Salinity Flat Maps 2012

Related

Earth Day 2020: Sea Surface Salinity (SSS) from August 2011 through July 2014
Aquarius Sea Surface Salinity 2011-2015
AXIOM-1 Sea Surface Salinity, Sea Ice Thickness and Atmospheric Precipitable Water
Aquarius Sea Surface Salinity 2011-2014 - Rotating Globes
NASA On Air: NASA's Aquarius Measures Ocean Salinity (3/13/2014)
Daily Salinity Maps
Aquarius Sea Surface Salinity Tour 2012
Aquarius Sea Surface Salinity on Rotating Globes 2012
Aquarius Yields NASA's First Global Map of Ocean Salinity
Sea Surface Temperature, Salinity and Density

Visualization Credits

Alex Kekesi (Global Science and Technology, Inc.): Lead Data Visualizer
Mark SubbaRao (NASA/GSFC): Data Visualizer
Nadya Vinogradova-Shiffer (NASA/HQ): Lead Scientist
Jinbo Wang (NASA/JPL): data provider
Laurence Schuler (ADNET Systems, Inc.): Technical Support
Ian Jones (ADNET Systems, Inc.): Technical Support
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5017

Data Used:
Comiso's Daily Sea Ice Concentration
Data Compilation - NASA/GSFC - 9/1/2011 - 9/1/2021
view all stories where this data set is used
Data Compilation/SMAP/SMAP L-BAND RADIOMETER, SAC-D/AQUARIUS_SCATTEROMETER, SMOS/SMAP L-BAND RADIOMETER/Multi-Mission Optimally Interpolated Sea Surface Salinity Global Dataset V1 also referred to as: OISSS_L4_multimission_7day_v1
Data Compilation - PODAAC
Credit:
Creator: Oleg Melnichenko
view all stories where this data set is used
Data Compilation/Natural Earth River Data
view all stories where this data set is used
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.

Keywords:
DLESE >> Cryology
DLESE >> Hydrology
DLESE >> Physical oceanography
SVS >> River
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Cryosphere >> Sea Ice
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Oceans >> Salinity/Density
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Oceans >> Sea Ice
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Cryosphere >> Sea Ice >> Salinity
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Cryosphere >> Sea Ice >> Sea Ice Motion
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Hydrosphere >> Surface Water >> Rivers/Streams
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Oceans >> Coastal Processes >> Saltwater Intrusion
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Oceans >> Salinity/Density >> Salinity
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Oceans >> Salinity/Density >> Salt Transport
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Oceans >> Sea Ice >> Salinity
SVS >> Hyperwall
SVS >> Hydrosphere >> Sea Ice
SVS >> Sea ice Motion
NASA Science >> Earth
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Climate Indicators >> Cryospheric Indicators >> Salinity
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Terrestrial Hydrosphere >> Surface Water >> Rivers/streams
SVS >> Salinity
SVS >> Salt

GCMD keywords can be found on the Internet with the following citation: Olsen, L.M., G. Major, K. Shein, J. Scialdone, S. Ritz, T. Stevens, M. Morahan, A. Aleman, R. Vogel, S. Leicester, H. Weir, M. Meaux, S. Grebas, C.Solomon, M. Holland, T. Northcutt, R. A. Restrepo, R. Bilodeau, 2013. NASA/Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Earth Science Keywords. Version 8.0.0.0.0