Question from a curious person.....

[snowballinhell]

I was reading a novel today and it talked about a river running into the Gulf Coast. This got me to thinking about the differences in seawater depending on run-off from other water sources and I hoped that maybe someone here could answer a question for me. I live in Alaska and I wondered if the seawater off of our coasts (and other far northern coasts) was less salty during spring because we have so much run-off from the melting snow. Stupid question probably, but now I have to know if the run-off makes any difference in the dilution of seawater. Thanks.

[rocksea]

yes of course, run off from rivers to the sea influences the salinity. am not sure about the region you mentioned (as it will depend on amount of runoff) but such a phenomenon is prominent in the Bay of Bengal (north Indian Ocean) where river run off from the Ganges and Mahanadi river basins are high. It makes the sea surface less saline and in turn influences other sea surface/subsurface features too. May be someone studying on this can give a detailed explanation.

[koldunovn]

Runoff in the Arctic region is very hight. Thats why Arctic Ocean is the most "fresh" ocean on our Planet. Only important from North American side is Mackenzie river, the most important are Lena, Ob and Yenisey on the Russian coast.

River runoff coses not only changes in salinity, but also increases temperature of the coastal waters. Salinity and temperature changes are the factors that partly determine the ice formation and melt near the shore. Changes in salinity also change density of water (in the Arctic Ocean density mostly depends on salinity not on temperature) that mean that patterns of circulation determined by density differences is also affected.

[praveen]

a simple plot in ferret from Levitus_climatology data set is below. U can see the river effect easily in Bay of Bengal region
http://www.oceanographers.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=85&stc=1
:thumbsup:

[koldunovn]

Simple plot in ODV for the Arctic Ocean. Effect from the river runoff prety clear :eek:

(http://www.oceanographers.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=&stc=1)

[snowballinhell]

Thank you very much for the responses. I actually had a non-monetary bet going with several friends in regards to this. Good to know I was correct. :D Thanks again and keep up the good work!