Warmer climate having global ocean effect (surface salinity changes)

[jpak]

http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2012/04/27/Warmer-climate-having-global-ocean-effect/UPI-37131335557893/?spt=hs&or=sn

BERKELEY, Calif., April 27 (UPI) -- Ocean salinity is being affected by global warming, and current models underestimate the change to the globe's water cycle, an Australian scientist says.

The water cycle -- the worldwide phenomenon of rainwater falling to the surface, evaporating back into the air and falling again as rain -- is changing, with the wetter parts of the world getting wetter and the drier parts drier, researchers report in Science magazine.

This is confirmed by the fact that saltier parts of the ocean are getting saltier and the fresher parts are getting fresher, they said.

"Salinity shifts in the ocean confirm climate and the global water cycle have changed," said Paul Durack of the University of Tasmania, who is now a post-doctoral fellow at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in California.

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