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by Briana Bermensolo
Salt. Most of us use it on our food. But we're not talking table salt today. This story applies to the salt in our oceans.
New research shows some bodies of water are getting saltier.
Scientists are observing increasing salinity levels they think have been going up the past 50 years.
And they're set on finding out why.
"We tend to think of the ocean as homogenous. All the same throughout. In fact, it's hugely variable. It's very high in some places, very low in others," said CSUMB Marine & Science Policy Director Dr. James Lindholm.
Last summer, NASA launched the satellite instrument called Aquarius from Vandenberg Air Force Base. Its purpose is to collect data from ocean's surface salinity levels.
"If you look at the data from Aquarius, it's suggested our [Central Coast] salinity is relatively low. What the implications are will be unclear, because it's a global system and everything interacts," said Dr. Lindholm.
The salinity of seawater can accelerate the water cycle. This is thought to be the cause of some extreme weather events, like drought and floods.
"All of a sudden, we won't see the types of fish we're used to seeing. We might see changes in the Kelp Forest off-shore. All of these are in function of innumerable little details and we, as scientists, are trying to parse out what those details are," said Dr. Lindholm.
