N

Properties of Seawater
N
Topics
N

Introduction
● Hydrosphere: Includes atmospheric water vapor, groundwater,
lakes, rivers, polar icecaps and the oceans.
● Oceans and seas cover more than 70 percent of the Earth’s
surface. The water that is most often found in nature is the
seawater. It is about 98%, existing on the globe as seas and
oceans. The rest is distributed as ice, water vapor, and fresh
water on land.
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Key Roles of the Oceans

The key roles of the oceans are:
a) They absorb and reflect sun light
b) They store the heat
c) They transport the stored heat
d) They cause major changes in the climate system
e) They are the main source of atmospheric water
vapour
f) They exchange gases (e.g. C O 2) with the
atmosphere.
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Seawater in hydrosphere

● To know the role of seawater the

in hydrosphere, thefollowing earth’s are
aspects
understood first: to be
1. Physical properties of seawater
2. C hemical composition of
seawater
3. Biological Conditions of
seawater
5. Salinity and density of
4. Temperature distribution in
oceans.
oceans
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Physical Properties of Seawater

● Due to its huge volume and thickness, it has certain

unique characteristics in the distribution of
temperature, pressure and density.
● Most of these properties vary horizontally and
vertically.
● Physicalproperties also act as limiting factors in
marine ecosystems.
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High Heat Capacity

Seawater has several unique properties

like
➢ high heat capacity
➢ latent heat of fusion (LHF)
➢ latent heat of vaporization
➢ latent heat of melting
➢ thermal expansion
➢ density
➢ viscosity and turbidity.
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High LHF
● Water has the capacity to store heat, conduct heat
and release heat.
● The heat capacity of seawater is the highest of all
solids and liquids except liquid ammonia. The heat
transfer in oceanic currents is large.
● Thelatent heat of fusion (LHF) is also the highest in
seawater except ammonia. Hence, it acts as a
thermostat at freezing point owing to uptake or
release of latent heat.
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Latent Heat of Evaporation

● The latent heat of evaporation is yet another
property, which is also the highest in seawater than
other substances. It is important in heat and water
transfers to the atmosphere.
● Thermalexpansion is another important property of
seawater. The temperature of maximum density
decreases with increasing salinity. For pure water it is
at 4 deg. C.
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High Surface Tension

● Seawater is characterized by its surface
tension.
● It is the highest among all liquids.
● Seawater is colorless in small volumes.
● Due to the presence of organic life and sediment
loads near the coasts, it may look greenish blue or
turbid in some places.

(…Contd)
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High Surface Tension

 Blue is the longest wavelength of the colors of the

spectrum. Since it is the last one to be
absorbed by the ocean, it is the most
 dominant color reflected.
When descending into the sea, the colors of the
spectrum begin to be filtered out. The first color
to disappear is red.
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Transmitting Sound Waves

● In addition to these, seawater also transmits

sound.
● The speed of sound travelling in Seawater is also a
special feature.
● It is about 1500 m per second and some low
frequencies travel for long distances also. Hence, it
is possible to analyze the depth of the seas and
oceans using sound waves.
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Chemical Composition of Seawater

● Seawater is a complex mixture of water, salts and
many other organic and inorganic substances.
● Seawater contains more dissolved ions than all other
types of water like river water, rainwater, lake water
and groundwater.
● It contains 96.5 percent water, 2.5 percent salts,
smaller amounts
and othe substance includin
of dissolved r s, g
particulates,
inorganic
and a few atmospheric
and organic material
gases. s,
(…Contd)
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Chemical Composition of Seawater

● The chemical composition and ratios of the

minerals and naturally occurring elements are
too complex to accurately replicate.
● The chemical constituents of seawater include major
ions and minor trace elements. In addition, Seawater
contains the suspended solids, organic substances,
and dissolved gases.
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Elemental Composition

Seawater chemistry shows 96 percent water and

only 4 percent other elemental composition.
➢O xygen alone is 85.84%
➢Hydrogen is 10.82%
➢C hloride is 1.94%
➢Sodium is 1.08%
➢Magnesium is 0.12%.
(…Contd)
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Elemental Composition

➢ Sulfur is 0.09 %
➢ C alcium is 0.04%
➢ Potassium is 0.04
%
➢ Bromine is
0.0067%
➢ C arbon is
0.0028%.
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Six Abundant Ions

 Because of these, seawater is dominated by six

most abundant ions like chloride (Cl-), sodium
(Na+), sulfate (SO2 -4), magnesium (Mg2+), calcium
(C a2+), and potassium (K +).
 By weight these ions make up to about 99 percent
of all sea salts.
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Overall Chemistry
● When we analyse seawater, the major ion
composition of seawater will be invariably showing
the following composition in mg/L.
Ions Concentration in seawater in mg/L
● Chloride (Cl-) 18980 mg/L
● Sodium (N a+) 10556
● Sulfate
mg/L
(SO 42-)
2649 mg/L
● Magnesium
(…Contd)
(Mg )
2+ 1262 mg/L
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Overall Chemistry

● Calcium 400
(Ca2+) mg/L
● Potassium
● Bicarbonate (HC O380
3 ) 140
-

(K +)
mg/L mg/L
● Strontium 13 mg/L
(Sr2+) 65
● Bromide (Br-) mg/L
● Borate (BO33-) 26 mg/L.
(…Contd)
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Overall Chemistry

● Fluoride (F-) 1 mg/L

● Silicate (SiO 32-) 1 mg/L

● Iodide (I-) <1 mg/L

● Total dissolved solids (TDS) of seawater is
34483 mg/L.
● It is also expressed in parts per million
(ppm).
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Minor Elements

With reference to the other

elements,
Bromine 67.3 mg/l
Inorganic carbon is 28 mg/L
N itrogen 15.5 mg/L
Fluoride is 13 mg/L
Strontium 8.1 mg/L
(…Contd)
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Minor Elements

 Boron 4.45 mg/l

 Silicon 2.9 mg/L
 Iodine 0.064mg/L
 Rubidium 0.12
 mg/L
 Barium 0.021
mg/L and
Uranium is 0.0033
mg/L in seawater.
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Sea Salt
 Sea salt is produced by evaporating seawater, but
this is not a straight-forward method.
 Between 100% and 50%, first the calcium
(CaCO3= limestone) gets precipitated and it is
carbonate
followed by the crystallization of gypsum between
50% and 20% water.
 Between 20% and 1%, sea salt precipitates (NaCl) but
going further, the bitter potassium and magnesium
chlorides and sulfates precipitates.
(…Contd)
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Sea Salt

● The amount of these salts in a volume of seawater

varies because of the addition or removal of water
locally (e.g., through precipitation and evaporation).
● The salt content in seawater is indicated by salinity
(S), which is defined as the amount of salt in grams
dissolved in one kilogram of seawater and
expressed in parts per thousand(ppt).
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Main salts
Main salts/elements present in oceans are in parts per
trillion:
1. NaCl (halite) 23.48 (about 2.35%)
2. MgCl 2 4.98 (about
0.50%)
3. Na2SO4
3.92
4. CaCl2
1.10
5. KCl
6. NaHCO 3 (Sodium bicarbonate) 0.66
0.192
7. KBr 0.096
8. H3BO3 (Hydrogen borate) 0.026
.
N

Residence Time

● Salinitiesin the open ocean have been observed

to range from about 34 to 37 parts per
thousand.
● It is denoted as 3.5%.
● All major ions of seawater are conservative.
● Though their salt contents vary from one place
to the other, their ratios do not change.
(…Contd)
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Residence Time

● Alldissolved materials have residence times

varying from hours to millions of years.
● Nitratehas the lowest residence time and
sodium has the highest residence time in
seawater.
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Major Contributors

● Weathering of rocks and minerals and salts

introduced into the streams feed into the oceans as
contributors.
● The total quantity of this is on the order of 2.5
billion tons per year.
● The minerals and salts are also derived from
volcanic eruptions, known as outgassing from Earth's
interior.
(…Contd)
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Major Contributors

● We know that is true because

elements
this like Chlorine,certain
Bromine Sulphur and
Boron are more abundant in oceans than in
Earth's crust.

(…Contd)
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Major Contributors
 The Hard parts of marine organisms also
contribute some salts to accumulate. (i.e., shell
material). Of the many minor dissolved chemical
constituents, inorganic phosphorus and inorganic
nitrogen are among the most notable, since they
are important for the growth of organisms that
inhabit the oceans and seas.
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Addition Of Gases

● At the ocean-atmosphere interface, gases are added to

Seawater by diffusion and wave action.
● Hence, Seawater contains various dissolved
atmospheric gases, chiefly nitrogen, oxygen, argon, and
carbon dioxide.
● Gas composition at the ocean surface is in equilibrium
with atmosphere. Gas composition changes with time
and depth in the oceans.
(…Contd)
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Addition Of Gases

➢ As salinity increases, the amount of gas dissolved

decreases because more water molecules are
immobilsed by the salt ion.
➢ Gases like oxygen and CO2 are influenced by the
sea life.
N

Solubility of Gases in Seawater

● Plants reduce the concentration C O 2 in
presence
of of sunlight, whereas, the
opposite
animals in wither light or darkness. do the
● The solubility of gases in seawater is controlled by
the temperature, salinity and pressure.
● All gases are less soluble as temperature increases.
When water is warmed, most of the gas bubbles
leave
the
liquid. (…Contd)
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Solubility of Gases in Seawater

● As water temperature increases, the increased mobility of gas
molecules makes them escape from the water, thereby
reducing the amount of gas involved. This is shown in the
following table.
Gas % in % in surface ml/litre mg/kg (ppm)
molecule atmosphere Seawater Seawater in
Seawater
Nitrogen N2 78% 47.5% 10 12.5
Oxygen O2 21% 36.0% 5 7
Carbondioxi
0.03% 15.1% 40 90
de CO2
Argon 1% 1.4% . 0.4

(…Contd)
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Solubility of Gases in Seawater

● O ne kg of fresh water contains 55.6 mol H2O.

● Nitrogen and argon are the inert gases which do not
take part in the processes of life. Hence, they are
not affected by plant and animal life.
● But non-conservative gases like oxygen and
carbondioxide are influenced by sea life.

(…Contd)
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Solubility of Gases in Seawater

 Plants reduce the concentration of carbondioxide in

the presence of sunlight, whereas animals do the
opposite in either light or darkness.
 In the above table, the conservative gases nitrogen
and argon do not contribute to life processes, even
though nitrogen gas can be converted by some
bacteria into fertilizing nitrogen compounds (NO3,
NH4).
N

Less soluble gases

● All gases are less soluble as temperature increases,

particularly nitrogen, oxygen and carbondioxide which
become about 40-50% less soluble with an increase
of 25ºC.
● When water is warmed, it becomes more saturated,
eventually resulting in bubbles leaving the liquid.

(…Contd)
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Less soluble gases

● Some other components of seawater are the dissolved

organic substances, such as carbohydrates and amino
acids, and organic-rich particulates.

● Thesematerials originate primarily in the upper 100 m

(300 feet) of the ocean, where dissolved inorganic
carbon is photosynthetically transformed into organic
matter.
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pH of Seawater

● pH is another important property of seawater.

● Itis reflected in the form of acidity and

alkalinity.

● Thisdistribution of ocean acidity shows that

ocean pH varies from about 7.90 to 8.20.

(…Contd)
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pH of Seawater

● The Seawater pH is the lowest in most productive

regions where upwelling occurs.

● It is also thought that the average acidity of the oceans

decreased from 8.25 to 8.14 since the advent of fossil
fuel in the world according to scientific observations.
N

Biological Conditions of Seawater

● Biologicaloceanographers study all forms of life in

the oceans, from microscopic plants and animals to
fish and whales.

● In addition, biological oceanographers examine all

forms of oceanic processes that involve living
organisms.

(…Contd)
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Biological Conditions of Seawater

● These include processes that occur at molecular

scales, such as photosynthesis, respiration, and
cycling of essential nutrients, to large scale
processes such as effects of ocean currents on
marine productivity.
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Primary Productivity
● Many biological properties and
processes control the abundances and
distributions of life in oceans.
● In oceans the sun’s energy is transformed into
organic matter and is also used by living organisms.
● The abundances of various constituents
affect the life and abundances as well.
● Marine organisms exchange matter and energy
with each other and with the waters around (…Contd)
them.
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Primary Productivity

● Photosynthesis, chemosynthesis, primary productivity

and nutrient cycling are the major processes helpful in
marine life survival and maintain the ecology of
oceans.
● The availability of light controls the plant growth and
phytoplankton distributions in the ocean.
N

Nitrogen and Phosphorous

● Phosphorous and nitrogen compounds are

necessary for phytoplankton growth.

● Thesetwo compounds are more abundant in deep

waters than the near surface waters, as they are
removed by plant growth near the surface.
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Dissolved Organic Matter

● Seawater is dominated by much amount of

dissolved organic matter.
● Dissolved organic matter remains in the ocean
for very long periods of time.
● May be many thousands of years. It is roughly
equal to the abundance of living matter on
earth.

(…Contd)
 N

Dissolved Organic Matter

● There are many sources of organic matter.

● Decomposition of dead plant and animal is one

source.

● Secretion of organic compounds by living plants is also

another source.
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Forms of Organic Matter

● The relative abundance of various forms of
organic matter in seawater are:
❖ D issolvedorganic matter 95%
❖ Particulate organic matter 5 %
❖ Phytoplankton 0.1%
❖ Zooplankton 0.01 %
❖ Fishes 0.0001 %.

● Dissolved organic matter enters food webs

primarily through tiny bacteria.
N

Particles Dispersed In Seawater

● Particles dispersed in seawater also influence

the chemical and biological behavior of Seawater.
● The total amount of particles in the oceans is
about 10000 million tons.
● Biological
particles are relatively large ranging
from 1 micrometer to 1 mm.
● These constitute upto 70% of the particulate
matter in the ocean.
(…Contd)
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Particles Dispersed In Seawater

➢ Particles are also destroyed either mechanically
or chemically.
➢ These dissolved particles release nutrients, silica and
metals.
➢ Hence, the chemistry and biology of seawater is
fully influenced.
➢ Depositionsof sediments are also controlled by
these masses.
N

Oxygen Dissolved In Seawater

❑ O xygen dissolved in seawater in both
participates biological and chemical It
processes of oceans. from the comes
atmosphere.
dissolve
❑ W hen nutrients concentrations are d
high, oxygen concentrations are low.
❑ The oxygen dissolves by diffusion from the surrounding
air; aeration of water that has tumbled over falls and
rapids; and as a waste product of photosynthesis.
N

Dissolved Oxygen
● Fishand aquatic animals cannot split oxygen from water
(H2O) or other oxygen-containing compounds.
● How much Dissolved Oxygen an aquatic organism needs
depends upon its species, its physical state, water
temperature, pollutants present, and more.
● Numerous scientific studies suggest that 4-5 parts per
million (ppm) of Dissolved Oxygen is the minimum amount
that will support a large, diverse fish population.

(…Contd)
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Dissolved Oxygen
➢ The Dissolved O xygen level in good fishing
waters generally averages about 9.0 parts per
million (ppm).
➢ Adequate dissolved oxygen is necessary for
good water quality.
➢ O xygen is a necessary element to all forms of life.
➢ Total dissolved gas concentrations in water should
not exceed 110 percent.
(…Contd)
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Dissolved Oxygen
➢ Concentrations above this level can be harmful to
aquatic life.
➢ Fishin waters containing excessive dissolved gases
may suffer from "gas bubble disease".
➢ When an organism dies and decomposes, most of its
organic molecules end up in solution as Dissolved
Organic Carbon (DOC), molecules that are very
much smaller than the smallest of organisms which
are viruses.
N

Carbon Reservoirs
● O ceans are considered to be the carbon
reservoirs. It is evident based on the following
statistics:
Carbon reservoir Percentage

CO2 dissolved in oceans 87.5

Dissolved Organic Carbon 7.1
(DOC) in oceans
Biosphere, all living 4.0
organisms
Atmospheric CO2 1.4
N

Temperature Distribution in Oceans

● Ocean is the major recipient of the sun’s radiant
energy.

● It has the capacity to store heat.

● Many physical processes depend on temperature of
waters. In oceanographic studies, platinum-resistance
thermometers are used to measure the temperature of
waters.

(…Contd)
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Temperature Distribution in Oceans

● Thedistribution of temperature in the surface of the
oceans follows a zonation pattern. It is
independent of longitude.
● The warmest water is near the equator and the
coldest water is near the polar regions.
● Heat fluxes, evaporation, rain, river water inflow,
freezing and melting of ice caps, all influence the
distribution of temperature in the oceans.
(…Contd)
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Temperature Distribution in Oceans

● Changes in temperature and salinity can increase or

decrease the density of ocean waters at the surface
which can lead to convection.
● The temperature of the world's ocean is highly
variable over the surface of the ocean, ranging from
less than 0°C near the poles to more than 29°C in the
tropics.

(…Contd)
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Temperature Distribution in Oceans

● The maximum surface temperature of course
depends on many factors, like latitude and
season.
● Itis heated from the surface downward by sunlight,
but at depth most of the ocean is very cold.
● Seventy-five percent of the water in the ocean falls
within the temperature range of −1 to +6°C and the
salinity range of 34 to 35.
N

Extreme Temperature
● Under the enormous pressures of the deep ocean,
seawater can reach very high temperatures without
boiling.
●A water temperature of 400 degrees C has been
measured at one hydrothermal vent.
● The average temperature of all ocean water is
about

3.5° C.
(…Contd)
N

Extreme Temperature
❖ The variations in total salinity and in temperature
cause variations in the density of seawater also.
❖ Severalbiotic and abiotic factors can cause the salinity
to deviate from the common value of 35.
❖ The inflow of river water and rainwater decreases
the salinity.
❖ Excess evaporation or formation of pack ice causes
the salinity to increase.
N

Thermal Layers
● Three general layers are present, except in Polar
Regions where only one or two layers are present
because of coldness:
1. Shallow surface mixed zone (2%): this is the warmest
zone made from solar energy, mixed by waves,
around 500m in thickness and the most saline
zone.

(…Contd)
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Thermal Layers
2.Transition zone (18%): this zone includes thermocline,
which is the point of great drop-off in temperature
existing below 3000m and halocline, which is the point
of salinity drop off, which is roughly corresponding to
the thermocline.
3.Deep zone (80%): located just above or below
freezing point. This is not a saline zone.
N

Salinity and Density of Oceans

● Ionic Concentration is the amount (by weight) of salt
present in water and can be expressed in parts per million
(ppm). The classification of water based on total salt content
is:
✓ Fresh water - less than 1,000 ppm
✓ Slightly saline water - From 1,000 ppm to 3,000 ppm
✓ Moderately saline water - From 3,000 ppm to 10,000 ppm
✓ Highly saline water - From 10,000 ppm to 35,000 ppm
✓ Ocean water has a salinity that is approximately 35,000
ppm.
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Salinity is the Saltiness

✓ Salinity
is the saltiness or dissolved salt content of
a body of water.
✓ It is a general term used to describe the levels of
different salts such as sodium chloride, magnesium and
calcium sulfates, and bicarbonates. Salinity in the ocean
refers to the water's "saltiness".
✓ In oceanography, it has been traditional to express
salinity not as percent, but as parts per thousand (‰),
which is approximately grams of salt per kilogram of
solution (…Contd)
.
N

Salinity is the Saltiness

✓ In the other disciplines, people use the chemical
analyses of solutions directly, and thus salinity is
frequently reported in mg/L or ppm (parts per
million).
✓ All over the globe and from the top of the ocean
all the way to the bottom of the ocean, salinity is
between 33-37 parts per trillion.
N

Practical Salinity Scale

● In 1978, oceanographers redefined salinity with a
new property known as Practical Salinity Scale
(PSS).
● Itis the conductivity ratio of a Seawater sample to a
standard KC l solution.
● As PSS is a ratio, it has no units. It is not the case
that a salinity of 35 exactly equals 35 grams of salt
per litre of a salt solution.
(…Contd)
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Practical Salinity Scale

● Some scientists estimate that the oceans contain as
much as 50 quadrillion tons of dissolved solids.

● Ifthe salt in the ocean could be removed and spread

evenly over the Earth’s land surface it would form a
layer more than 166 m thick, about the height of a
40-story office building.

(…Contd)
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Practical Salinity Scale

● Salinity
affects marine organisms because the process
of osmosis transports water towards a higher
concentration through cell walls.
●A fish with a cellular salinity of 1.8% will swell in
fresh water and dehydrate in salt water. So,
saltwater fishes drink water copiously while
excreting excess salts through their gills.
N

Life in Seawater
● Freshwater fish do the opposite by not drinking but
excreting copious amounts of urine while losing little
of their body salts.
● Marine plants (seaweeds) and many lower organisms
have no mechanism to control osmosis, which makes
them very sensitive to the salinity of the water in
which they live.

(…Contd)
N

Life in Seawater
● The main nutrients for plant growth are nitrogen (N
as in nitrate NO3-, nitrite NO2-, ammonia NH4+),
phosphorus (P as phosphate PO43-) and potassium (K)
followed by Sulfur (S), Magnesium (Mg) and Calcium
(Ca).
● Iron (Fe) is an essential component of enzymes and is
copiously available in soil, but not in seawater
(0.0034ppm).

(…Contd)
N

Life in Seawater

● Thismakes iron an essential nutrient for plankton

growth.
● Plankton organisms (like diatoms) that make shells of
silicon compounds furthermore need dissolved
silicon salts (SiO2) which at 3ppm can be rather
limiting.
N

Zones of Salinity
Based on the salinity, the oceanic water masses
are classified into various zones:
Thalassic series
➢>300 hyperhaline
➢60 – 80 metahaline
➢40 mixoeuhaline
➢30 polyhaline
➢18 mesohaline
➢ 5 oligohaline
N

Types of Seas
● Marine waters are those of the ocean, another term for
which is euhaline seas.
● The salinity of euhaline seas is 30 to 35. Brackish seas or
waters have salinity in the range of 0.5 to 29 and
metahaline seas from 36 to 40.
● These waters are all regarded as thalassic because their
salinity is derived from the ocean and defined as
homohaline if salinity does not vary much over time
(essentially constant).
N

Salinity is an Ecological Factor

● The ocean salinity at the surface is high and then salinity
decreases until a depth of about 1,000 meters. Salinity
then increases again slightly with increasing depth.
● The halocline is a layer of water where the salinity
changes rapidly with depth.
● Salinityis an ecological factor of considerable importance,
influencing the types of organisms that live in a body of
water.

(…Contd)
N

Salinity is an Ecological Factor

● As well, salinity influences the kinds of plants that will
grow either in a water body, or on land fed by water (or
by a groundwater).
●A plant adapted to saline conditions is called a halophyte.
● Organisms (mostly bacteria) that can live in very salty
conditions are classified as extremophiles, halophiles
specifically.
● An organism that can withstand a wide range of
salinities is euryhaline.
N

Water Circulation
● The degree of salinity in oceans is a driver of the
world's ocean circulation, where density changes due
to both salinity changes and temperature changes at
the surface of the ocean produce changes in
buoyancy, which cause the sinking and rising of water
masses.
N

Changes in Salinity
❖ Changes in the salinity of the oceans are thought to
contribute to global changes in carbon dioxide as more
saline waters are less soluble to carbon dioxide.
❖ Salinity
affects ocean organisms because the process of
osmosis transports water towards a higher
concentration through cell walls.
❖ Fishwith a cellular salinity of 1.8% will swell in fresh
water and dehydrate in salt water.

(…Contd)
N

Changes in Salinity
● Saltwater fish drink water copiously while excreting
excess salts through their gills.
● Freshwater fish do the opposite by not drinking but
excreting copious amounts of urine while losing
little of their body salts.
● Marine plant life (seaweeds) and many lower
organisms have no mechanism to control osmosis,
which makes them very sensitive to the salinity of the
water in which they live.
(…Contd)
N

Changes in Salinity

● This world map shows how the salinity of the

oceans changes slightly from around 32ppt (3.2%)
to 40ppt (4.0%).
● Low salinity is found in cold seas, particularly during
the summer season when ice melts.
N

High Salinity
● High salinity is found in the ocean 'deserts' in a band
coinciding with the continental deserts.
● Lowest salinityis found in the upper reaches of
the Baltic Sea (0.5%).
● The D ead Sea is 24% saline, containing
mainly magnesium chloride MgCl2.
● Shallow coastal areas are 2.6-3.0% saline and
estuaries
0-
3%. (…Contd)
 N

● The
High Salinity
density of a water sample is a measure of the total mass in
a given unit volume.
● The density of fresh water is 1.00 (gram/ml or
kg/liter) but added salts can increase this.
● The saltier the water, the higher the density.

● When water warms, it expands and becomes less

dense.
N

D ensity
● The colder the water, the denser it becomes. So it is
possible that warm salty water remains on top of
cold, less salty water.
● The density of 35ppt saline seawater at 15ºC is about
1.0255, or s (sigma)= 25.5. Another word for density
is specific gravity.
● Thedeep ocean is layered with the densest water on
bottom and the lightest water on top.
(…Contd)
N

D ensity

● Circulation in the depths of the ocean is horizontal.

● Thatis, water moves along the layers with the
same density.
● The density of ocean water is rarely
measured directly.

(…Contd)
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D ensity

● Salinity increases the density because the

dissolved salts are contained in the same
volume as the water.
● C old seawater is denser than warm seawater.
● There are several areas at the ocean surface
where the surface water becomes very cold.

(…Contd)
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D ensity

● Densitydifferences among different water masses

allow physical oceanographers to calculate the
movements of water in the oceans.
● Water molecules cluster more closely around positive
and negative ions in solution in a process called
electrostriction, which also serves to increase sea-
water density.

(…Contd)
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D ensity

● Density of water in the ocean, reported

sigma
as t (σ t is calculated from
temperature,
salinity and )pressure by using the equation
of state for seawater: σ t = (σ − 1) × 1,000.
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Properties of Seawater

● At4°C and with the salinity of 35, the density σ of

seawater is 1.02781 gram per cubic centimeter.
● At depth, pressure from the overlying ocean water
becomes very high (pressure at 4,000 meters is
about
400 atmospheres), but water is only slightly
compressible, so that there is only a minor pressure
effect on density.
(…Contd)
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Properties of Seawater

● Ata depth of 4,000 meters, water decreases in

volume only by 1.8 percent.
● Although the high pressure at depth has only a slight
effect on the water, it has a much greater effect on
easily compressible materials.
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Interdependent Properties
● The relationship between temperature, salinity and
density is shown by the blue isopycnal (of same density)
curves in this diagram.
● Inred, green and blue the waters of the major oceans of
the planet is shown for depths below -200 metre.
● The Pacific has most of the lightest water with densities
below 26.0, whereas the Atlantic has most of the densest
water between 27.5 and 28.0.

(…Contd)
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Interdependent Properties
● Antarctic bottom water is indeed densest for Pacific and
Indian oceans but not for the Atlantic which has a lot of
similarly dense water.
● The density of ocean water varies. It becomes more dense
as it becomes colder, right down to its freezing point
of
-1.9 degrees C.
● The density of pure water is 1000 kg/m3. Ocean water is
more dense because of the salt in it. Density of ocean
water at the sea surface is about 1027 kg/m3.
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Conclusion
● The composition of seawater is affected by many
different chemical and physical transport
mechanisms.
● The Dissolved substances and particulates are
regularly added to the oceans by rivers.
● The particulates may be transported by the wind to
mid-ocean regions. Many chemical substances are
also added to deep ocean waters by
solutions.
hydrothermal (…Contd)
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Conclusion
● Seawater is a rich source of various commercially
important chemical elements. Much of the world’s
magnesium is recovered from seawater.
● In certain parts of the world, sodium chloride (table
salt) is still obtained by evaporating seawater. The
waters of the seas and oceans have formed over
millions of years.

(…Contd)
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Conclusion
● Most people do not realize the complex nature of
seawater. In fact, the seawater cannot be easily
duplicated in any lab in any manner in the world.
● The chemical composition and ratios of the
minerals and naturally occurring elements of
seawater are too complex to accurately replicate.
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Thank You