Scientists are using salinity as a tracer to understand accelerated warming in the U.S. Northeast coastal ocean. A new study investigates how the influx of warm, salty offshore water contributes to the seasonal erosion of the cold pool.
Lukas Taenzer from MIT-WHOI, lead author of the paper in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, highlights the seasonal salinification of the cold pool. The study uses salinity to identify the physical processes affecting coastal ecosystem conditions, using data from the Ocean Observatories Initiative Coastal Pioneer Array.
The research team set up a salinity budget to track the movement of ocean water in and out of the cold pool. Svenja Ryan from WHOI notes that continuous subsurface measurements, like those from the Coastal Pioneer Array, are crucial for understanding these changes. Caroline Ummenhofer emphasizes the importance of satellite observations for tracking surface ocean conditions in real-time.
Taenzer explains that tracking salt helps pinpoint why the cold pool changes throughout the year, which is difficult to determine using temperature alone. This understanding is important to help NOAA Fisheries to manage U.S. fish stocks sustainably.