The World Ocean Atlas (WOA) is a data product of the Ocean Climate Laboratory of the National Centers for Environmental Information (U.S.). The WOA consists of a climatology of fields of in situ ocean properties for the World Ocean. It was first produced in 1994 (based on the earlier Climatological Atlas of the World Ocean, 1982), with later editions at roughly four year intervals in 1998, 2001, 2005, 2009, 2013, 2018, and 2023.
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👉 World Ocean Atlas in the context of Salinity
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. These in turn are important for understanding ocean currents and heat exchange with the atmosphere.