{"id":1314,"date":"2018-07-06T19:06:55","date_gmt":"2018-07-06T19:06:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.efolio.soton.ac.uk\/blog\/discoveroceanography\/?page_id=1314"},"modified":"2019-03-14T12:27:43","modified_gmt":"2019-03-14T12:27:43","slug":"temperature-and-salinity","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/discoveroceanography\/for-students\/lessons\/temperature-and-salinity\/","title":{"rendered":"Temperature and Salinity"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips71'>Ocean<\/span> helps shape <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips56'>Climate<\/span> around the world. <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips71'>Ocean<\/span> currents transport heat from equator towards the poles, releasing heat to the atmosphere and influencing regional rainfall patterns. In coastal waters the <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips24'>Temperature<\/span> and <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips47'>Salinity<\/span> can have a significant effect on which animals and plants grow. Some animals or plants need salty waters, others fresh, some warm, others cool.\u00a0We\u2019d like to know whether the water around our coast is getting warmer over time, as a result of <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips56'>Climate<\/span> change and changes in <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips71'>Ocean<\/span> currents.\u00a0 If the water is getting warmer, then we may see more \u201cwarm water\u201d marine life around our shores, some of which can be dangerous to bathers.<\/p>\n<p>Making regular measurements shows that the <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips24'>Temperature<\/span> and <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips47'>Salinity<\/span> are very variable.\u00a0 This natural variability makes it difficult to detect any long-term trends, for example to see if the water is getting warmer over time.\u00a0 Because of these variations with the tide and weather, we need to make a lot of measurements over a long period to detect any long-term patterns.\u00a0Knowing that there may be differences between the river water and the sea water and being able to measure these also allows us to make observations about how the water mixes in an estuary.<\/p>\n<p>In the short video below, Professor Rachel Mills (Dean of the Faculty of Natural and Environmental Sciences) explains why water is such a powerful solvent and how this contributes to making our oceans salty.\u00a0Rachel also describes how early oceanographers measured the saltiness of the <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips71'>Ocean<\/span> and, with the help of Jon and Verity (two researchers at the University) demonstrates the modern day method using technology. The video is an extract from the University&#8217;s FutureLearn course,\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.futurelearn.com\/courses\/exploring-our-oceans\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Exploring our Oceans<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"h5p-iframe-wrapper\"><iframe id=\"h5p-iframe-13\" class=\"h5p-iframe\" data-content-id=\"13\" style=\"height:1px\" src=\"about:blank\" frameBorder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"h5p-iframe-wrapper\"><iframe id=\"h5p-iframe-10\" class=\"h5p-iframe\" data-content-id=\"10\" style=\"height:1px\" src=\"about:blank\" frameBorder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><strong>What do the estuary measurements show?<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"h5p-iframe-wrapper\"><iframe id=\"h5p-iframe-11\" class=\"h5p-iframe\" data-content-id=\"11\" style=\"height:1px\" src=\"about:blank\" frameBorder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips0','The variable that is changed or controlled in a scientific experiment to test the effects on\u00a0the dependent variable.'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips24','<span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif\">The degree or intensity of heat present in a substance or object, especially as expressed according to a comparative scale and shown by a thermometer or perceived by touch.<\/span>'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips47','<span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif\">The <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips13'>Concentration<\/span> of <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips34'>Dissolved<\/span> salts in water etc., usually expressed in parts per thousand by <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips62'>Weight<\/span>.<\/span>'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips48','A system of observation and experimentation used to learn how the world works.'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips56','<span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif\">The weather conditions prevailing in an <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips74'>Area<\/span> in general or over a long period.<\/span>'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips57','<span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif\">A body of water or air moving in a definite direction, especially through a surrounding body of water or air in which there is less <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips45'>Movement<\/span>.<\/span>'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips69','A general direction in which something is developing or changing.'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips71','A very large expanse of sea, in particular each of the main areas into which the sea is divided geographically.'); <\/script>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Ocean helps shape Climate around the world. Ocean currents transport heat from equator towards the poles, releasing heat to the atmosphere and influencing regional rainfall patterns. In coastal waters the Temperature and Salinity can have a significant effect on which animals and plants grow. Some animals or plants need &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3738,"featured_media":1476,"parent":1107,"menu_order":11,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1314","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/discoveroceanography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/discoveroceanography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/discoveroceanography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/discoveroceanography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3738"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/discoveroceanography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1314"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/discoveroceanography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1314\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1517,"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/discoveroceanography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1314\/revisions\/1517"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/discoveroceanography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1107"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/discoveroceanography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/discoveroceanography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}