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Education: The Ocean's Influence on Climate

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Explain that the ocean holds a large amount of heat and the effect this has on climate (NSES,160; NAAEE,30; OLS,11)
Explain the effect of solar energy on wind and cloud formation and the effect solar energy, wind and clouds have on climate (NSES,160,189; NAAEE,30; OLS,11)
Ocean circulation
Density-Driven Deep Ocean Circulation See this process in motion!
Ocean currents
Temperature and Surface Currents Atlantic & Eastern Pacific Ocean
Ocean currents
Temperature and Surface Currents Indian & Western Pacific Ocean
How Does the Ocean Influence Climate?
Aquarius measured ocean surface salinity, a climate-sensitive variable that - along with satellites that measure ocean currents, sea surface temperature, winds, and ocean color - helps scientists study how global ocean circulation responds to climate change. Why salinity? Changes in ocean saltiness can affect the density of water and play a major role in ocean circulation. Along with dissolved salt, these currents move heat around the globe. Heat that is carried by the ocean affects wind and cloud formation in the atmosphere. Thus ocean heat controls climate, no matter how far you live from the shore. As important, as salinity is a key surface tracer of fresh water input to output from the ocean, Aquarius also provided much-needed information for global water cycle research.

Featured Movie: Aquarius Pre-Launch Mission Overview
Ocean circulation

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FAQs
  • Does the salinity of the seawater have any correlation to global warming?

    • In the changing climate as the temperature increases, there will be a lot of ice melting, so the salinity will decrease, in other words become fresher. Over the past 50 years, we already see a dramatic freshening of North Atlantic water, so global warming will have a signature in ocean salinity, that is why we want to measure it from space.
      Yi Chao, Aquarius Project Scientist, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Inspire Chat with Yi Chao (Host: Jim Gerard).
  • Why does freshwater give off more energy than saltwater?

    • It's a little bit complicated in engineering terms but I'll see if I can make this clear: conductivity is what makes currents flow. So something that has good conductivity, like the wires in your house, conduct electricity very well. If something has poor conductivity, like a glass window, it doesn't conduct electricity well at all. It turns out that the saltiness of seawater increases its conductivity. That conductivity suppresses the energy that's emitted from the ocean surface. Actually, what happens is that (the energy) bounces off the surface and back into the ocean; so the more conductivity, the more energy is retained (i.e., bounced back into the ocean).
      David Le Vine, Deputy Principal Investigator in How Do We Cover the Globe with Aquarius Data? NASA's Aquarius Studies Our Salty Seas Webinar, January 17, 2012 (Session 2).
  • In terms of Earth's changing climate, I've read that ocean events known as El Niño and La Niña actually begin in the region of Indonesia during monsoon season. How do these events affect ocean salinity?

    • El Niño begins in the western Pacific where major rainfall changes occur. That, presumably, will have a salinity signal. One of our science questions is to quantify this. We anticipate that Aquarius will be able to see El Niño/La Niña signals, but we'll need several years time to compare our data.
      Yi Chao, Aquarius Project Scientist, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Ocean Bights Interview with Yi Chao, The Magazine of the Catalina Marine Society (CMS), Vol. 2, No. 2 (Interviewer: Chris Howell).