Salinity

Annual mean sea surface salinity for the World Ocean. Data from the World Ocean Atlas 2009.[1]
International Association for the Physical Sciences of the Oceans (IAPSO) standard seawater.

Salinity (/səˈlɪnɪti/) is the saltiness or amount of salt dissolved in a body of water, called saline water (see also soil salinity). It is usually measured in g/L or g/kg (grams of salt per liter/kilogram of water; the latter is dimensionless and equal to ‰).

Salinity is an important factor in determining many aspects of the chemistry of natural waters and of biological processes within it, and is a thermodynamic state variable that, along with temperature and pressure, governs physical characteristics like the density and heat capacity of the water.

A contour line of constant salinity is called an isohaline, or sometimes isohale.

  1. ^ World Ocean Atlas 2009. nodc.noaa.gov