stupid question about the sea

[IdRatherBeSurfing]

does it get less salty the further you go out? like, 12 miles offshore is it less salty than on the beach?

[RJD]

Uh no...

It sort of has a reputation of being salty everywhere...

[Stone Fox]

Normally, (and this is what I came in to say) I'd say that there's no such thing as a stupid question, only stupid answers.

However, I'm going to have to make an exception here for Jo.

Wtf?

[IdRatherBeSurfing]

i dunno! i thought maybe the shoreline might be more salty cos of the salt coming out of the rocks and stuff (maybe?)

i know the sea aint going to be fresh water! just wonderd if its LESS salty further out!

[Stone Fox]

Look Ma! No bandwidth theft!

Just kidding Jo, I don't REALLY think you're stupid.

[RJD]

heh no there isnt any stupid questions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salinity_of_ocean_water

[dondiemand]

heh no there isnt any stupid questions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salinity_of_ocean_water

ahh good ol' wikipedia

[IdRatherBeSurfing]

so it wasnt such a stupid question ner!!

[PapaW]

If anything its 'less' salty near shore due to freshwater imput from streams/rivers etc.. but its so neglegeble you wouldn't notice at all.

Fresh water sits ontop of saline water unless mixed which is way flocculation occurs in esturine environments.

average salinity of seawater is around 3%

[Jimi]

Libby??

[Phil]

It also changes with the amount of precipitation and evaporation partly the reason the waters more saline at the equator because of the amount of evaporation. If any thing it would be less salty at the coast here due to run offs, the mixing of fresh water from estuaries and precipitation considering the amount of rain we get

Very little salt comes from minerals; nearly all of it came from volcanoes when the earth formed, so I doubt there would be much from the weathering of rocks to make much of a difference to salinity

[libby]

I didnt answer as I didnt really know the answer! Its more of a physical oceanography question so i left it for Phil. All i could think of is patterns of nutrient concentration but thats entirley different!

He he he thanks Phil, most intrigueing!

[TicTac]

does it get less salty the further you go out? like, 12 miles offshore is it less salty than on the beach?

You call that a stupid question about the sea? Ha! I have one for you...Is the sea wet?

[Phil]

I didnt answer as I didnt really know the answer! Its more of a physical oceanography question so i left it for Phil. All i could think of is patterns of nutrient concentration but thats entirley different!

He he he thanks Phil, most intrigueing!

Not really patterns of nutrient concentrations are related in a way to salinity. when you look at the themohaline circulation basically one big conveyer belt of ocean currents. that takes around a 1000 years to peform one cycle

take the Galapagos for example you have cold dense salty Antarctic bottom water up welling as the current is forced up when it reaches the continual plate producing nutrient rich waters. If you didnt have that then I doubt you would have such a diverse habitat around the Galapagos islands

[libby]

True true, but i look at ocean mixing pretty much purely from a "what does it mean in terms of bringing nutrients to the surface" type persepective" i have been taught the physical stuff but cant really remember it now Waiting for all my marine ecology books to be posted over from NZ.....