Ocean spiciness
OH-shuhn SPĪ-sē-nes n.
Relative temperature and salinity variations within seawater of the same density. Warmer, saltier ocean water is considered spicy while cooler, fresher water is minty.
Climate change will spice up the Arctic Ocean, researchers report in the April Journal of Physical Oceanography.
Seawater that is both salty and cold is the most dense, and therefore sits deep in the ocean. Unlike the rest of the world’s oceans, in the cold Arctic, the density of seawater is almost entirely determined by saltiness rather than temperature. That’s because at near-freezing temperatures, hydrogen atoms hold water molecules together, so as temperatures rise, water expands less rapidly — and therefore temperature has less of an effect. This means that as long as it’s saltier, warmer seawater can sink below colder seawater in the Arctic Ocean.