Climate change 'making seas more salty'

[n2doc]

Scientists report that increased salinity in oceans can be attributed to manmade climate change

David Adam
guardian.co.uk, Monday October 27 2008 10.58 GMT

Global warming is making the sea more salty, according to new research that demonstrates the massive shifts in natural systems triggered by climate change.

Experts at the UK Met Office and Reading University say warmer temperatures over the Atlantic Ocean have significantly increased evaporation and reduced rainfall across a giant stretch of water from Africa to the Carribean in recent years. The change concentrates salt in the water left behind, and is predicted to make southern Europe and the Mediterranean much drier in future.

Peter Stott of the Met Office, who led the study, said: "With global warming we're talking about very big changes in the overall water cycle. This moisture is being evaporated and transported to higher latitudes."

The team wanted to see whether manmade climate change could be blamed for changes in salinity measured in the Atlantic. In 2003, experts reported that the north Atlantic waters were freshening, with salt levels decreasing – a mild version of the scenario depicted in the Hollywood film The Day After Tomorrow where massive amounts of fresh water shut down warm ocean currents and cause temperatures to plunge.

more:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/27/climate-change-water

[Enthusiast]

1. I still think a

Younger Dryas effect is the more likely outcome. This would occur as a result of an influx of fresh water from a melting Greenland icecap. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Younger_Dryas

[soothsayer]

2. if all the ice is melting, shouldn't it be getting less salty?

[Dead_Parrot]

3. Globally, yes

But a complete cycle of the thermohaline systems takes centuries, going on millennia: There's plenty of time for the polar regions to freshen, and the tropical regions to get more saline, before it all gets mixed up again. It's akin to the "If Earth is getting hotter, why is this spot in Antarctica getting colder?" argument: Local effects can be the complete opposite of global trends, even though they are caused by the same things.

Of course, if the THC shuts down completely because the polar sink gets stuffed, it could take a little longer.

But, on the plus side, this might make Margaritas a little cheaper in Nassau.