Evaporation from the ocean sends moisture into the atmosphere and leaves behind salt. These maps show areas of the ocean where evaporation (top) and precipitation (bottom) are highest (red) and lowest (blue). The mid-latitude are dry, like oceanic deserts; the tropics and high latitudes are wet, like oceanic rain forests. Measuring the ocean's salinity is a way to measure its evaporation, which starts the cycle that transports water from the ocean into the atmosphere and eventually via rain or snow on to land. Indications are that the Earth's water cycle is intensifying, causing wet areas to become wetter and dry areas to become dryer. (Schanze, Schmitt, and Yu, Journal of Marine Research, 2010)[back]
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