Question

How salinity affects the movement of ocean currents? Explain with an example.

Answer 1

Instructions: Tell about the relation between salinity and density and thereby how it affects the movement of ocean currents.

Solution: Salinity is one of the important factors that affects the movement of ocean currents. As the salinity increases, the density increases. As the salinity decreases, the density decreases. Salinity will be very low in open seas and very high in closed seas. So, water from the more saline regions flows on the surface into less saline regions.
Salinity of Atlantic Ocean which is an open sea is less than the salinity of Mediterranean sea that is an enclosed sea.​ So, water from the Atlantic Ocean flows on the surface towards Mediterranean sea.​ Water from the Mediterranean sea, being more dense, flows through the bottom part of the sea into the Atlantic Ocean.