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Education: Water Cycle Processes and the Ocean

STUDENT OUTCOMES
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Explain how the processes of the water cycle (e.g., evaporation, precipitation) relate to the ocean (NSES,160; OLS,5)
Describe the connections between the salt water found in the ocean and the fresh water in the water cycle (NSES,160; NAAEE,12,16; OLS,10)
Poster
Water Cycle Poster for Kids (English) | Spanish
Poster
Aquarius/SAC-D Pre-Launch Wall Poster (English) | Spanish
How Do Water Cycle Processes Relate to the Ocean?
Earth's water cycle is dominated by ocean-atmosphere exchanges: globally, 86% of evaporation and 78% of precipitation occur over the ocean. Ocean surface salinity is a key tracer for understanding the freshwater fluxes into and out of the ocean system. This is because some parts of the water cycle decrease salinity (e.g., precipitation, groundwater flow to the ocean, river runoff) and some parts increase it (e.g., evaporation and freezing of seawater). With Aquarius data, scientists are able to relate salinity variations to evaporation and precipitation, providing insight into how the ocean responds to seasonal and annual changes in the water cycle.

Featured Movie: Aquarius and the Water Cycle
Ocean shoreline

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FAQs
  • 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).
  • In the global water cycle, is "salty" good?

    • There's no such thing as absolute good or bad, right? In certain areas, you want to monitor the change, that's really the key. You want to see whether the area's freshwater gets fresher, you know, and if the salty water gets saltier. That represents the speeding up or slowing down of the water cycle. So you ask the questions: do we have more evaporation as we change the climate? Do we have more freshwater melting? All these questions are related.
      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).
  • Why does the Atlantic have more evaporation?

    • Mostly due to the land-sea contrast (located between two major continents). It is also smaller than the Pacific.
      Yi Chao, Aquarius Project Scientist, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Inspire Chat with Yi Chao (Host: Jim Gerard).