How salty is to salty??

[Anonymous]

Stability is more important than any single number. Normally I prefer 1.026 and 82-84 degrees. Our old Nano spent a good 6 months at 1.030 and all the occupants were happy as clams.

 

[Anonymous]

...funny thing, the SG is exactly the same in Bodega Bay after correcting for temperature...hmm, it's almost like the ocean has agreed on a universal specific gravity.

Well it IS pretty much a single body of water, so I don't really find this suprising. :wink:

Jim

Yup. You'll find the exact same concentrations of every element no matter where you go as well...Marianas Trench, surface water in Antarctica, etc. It's all just seawater. There are localized exceptions, of course.

 

[Anonymous]

There has to be differentials, only because when it rains... that's fresh water. I remember snorkling the caribbean and it was raining cats and dogs for a while. That must do something to the salinity, at least in the local area.
~wings~

 

[Anonymous]

There are as was said, localized changes, i.e. due to evaporation (Red Sea) or Freshwater inputs i.e. rivers and streams and even just the afternoon thunderstorm. However the average is still 1.026

 

[Anonymous]

There has to be differentials, only because when it rains... that's fresh water. I remember snorkling the caribbean and it was raining cats and dogs for a while. That must do something to the salinity, at least in the local area.
~wings~

Absolutely. Some more extreme examples are tidepools; heat, salinity, oxygen levels, they all go way out of normal parameters. Another example would be near volcanic events underwater or mineral deposits; you may see higher levels of sulfur, or whatever. There are slight variations in salinity with depth as well in the oceans.

 

[kim]

That must do something to the salinity, at least in the local area.~wings~

It certainly does. The oceans may all be one piece of water, but it's not all the same temperature nor all the same salinity ! Also salinity varies with depth.

Surface water varies between 32 and 37.5 salinity, a density at 25 C of 1.021 - 1.025 kg/l. In general it is greatest at the tropics, least towards the poles. The reason is that water evaporates at the tropics and falls on the poles (and London....). So there is a fairly constant salinity gradient - it's a dynamic not static equilibrium. Most of us are interested in the tropics so....

kim

 

[Anonymous]

So, then?... does it really matter if you are at 1.021..22..23.24.25.26? Personally, I haven't had any issues at .021-22.
~wings~

 

[Anonymous]

YES! You will not find any coral reefs in the world where the average specific gravity is that low. Check out this article...
http://www.reefs.org/library/article/bi ... oonen.html