Annual Cycle of Salinity and Salt Storage in the World Ocean

Abstract

The annual cycle of salinity in the upper 500 m of the world ocean is described, based on climatological seasonal salinity analyses presented in a previous study. The annual cycle is examined using zonally integrated seasonal sections for the various oceans, seasonal fields for the sea surface, and maps of the zonally integrated annual range. Major features include relatively large annual cycles in the tropical Pacific (8°N) and off the coast of Labrador. For the North Atlantic, good agreement exists with the work of Smed for the sea surface.