The salinity distribution in the ocean is just one manifestation of the global hydrological cycle, which also involves ice and snow, terrestrial water storage, the atmosphere, and the biosphere. Water exchange among these reservoirs is determined by complicated mechanical and thermodynamical constraints that form the basis of climate dynamics. Yet the freshwater signal in the ocean, and its close relative, ocean salinity, may well be the most difficult of these global-scale reservoirs to observe. Salinity in the ocean is determined by evaporation, precipitation, runoff, and ice formation and melting—and ocean circulation—effects that can operate at local to global spatial scales.

Riser, S.C., L. Ren, and A. Wong. 2008. Salinity in Argo: A modern view of a changing ocean. Oceanography 21(1):56–67, https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2008.67.

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