Did you know that 85% of Earth's evaporation and 77% of precipitation occurs over the ocean?
Water cycle patterns – which result in deserts and rain forests on land – also impact our ocean. Maps of soil moisture and sea surface salinity reveal parallels: along some latitudes, land deserts line up with areas of high ocean salinity and rain forests line up with areas of low ocean salinity.
Studies reveal that a warming climate leads to an intensification of the water cycle. What does that mean? Dry areas are getting drier and wet areas are getting wetter. In the ocean, low salinity – or "fresh" areas – are getting fresher and salty areas are getting saltier. Although such changes may seem remote, it is important to know that the ocean has a large influence on weather systems that impact our daily lives. And thanks to sea surface salinity sensors onboard satellites, we can better understand water cycle changes over most of Earth's surface.
Did you know that 85% of Earth's evaporation and 77% of precipitation occurs over the ocean?
Water cycle patterns – which result in deserts and rain forests on land – also impact our ocean. Maps of soil moisture and sea surface salinity reveal parallels: along some latitudes, land deserts line up with areas of high ocean salinity and rain forests line up with areas of low ocean salinity.
Studies reveal that a warming climate leads to an intensification of the water cycle. What does that mean? Dry areas are getting drier and wet areas are getting wetter. In the ocean, low salinity – or "fresh" areas – are getting fresher and salty areas are getting saltier. Although such changes may seem remote, it is important to know that the ocean has a large influence on weather systems that impact our daily lives. And thanks to sea surface salinity sensors onboard satellites, we can better understand water cycle changes over most of Earth's surface.
Check out these recent results!
NASA Salinity | NASA Winds | ECCO | NASA PACE
