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Effect of Sediment Suspensions on Seawater Salinity Assessments

Received: 3 January 2017     Accepted: 20 January 2017     Published: 28 April 2017
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Abstract

The absolute salinity of seawater can be assessed by conductivity measurements and the calculation of a practical salinity, or by density measurements. The effect of low concentrations of suspended particulate matter on these measurements has never been documented, but the theories developed to explain and predict the conductivity of sediments show clearly that, under an electrical field, they interact with the ionic composition of seawater. Moreover, it can be easily shown that adding any quantity of particles has an effect on the measured density of a seawater sample. This publication describes a measurement method settled to measure the effect of sediment particles on seawater conductivity and proposes relations for explaining and predicting the observed phenomena. It also describes the effects of particles on density measurements. The results obtained show that the errors on the measured conductivities (and practical salinities) caused by sand in suspensions, are less than 0.001 mS cm-1 (on average) with concentrations encountered in oceans fields, but that these cannot be neglected in some coastal areas. The amplitude of the measurement noise leaded by particles circulation in the conductivity cell exceeds 0.002 in salinity beyond 200 mg l-1. For density measurements, the threshold for keeping the error inferior to the uncertainty of 0.004 kg m-3 usually obtained with vibrating tube densimeters, is much lower, 9 mg l-1, and close to the concentrations encountered in the open ocean.

Published in Journal of Water Resources and Ocean Science (Volume 6, Issue 2)
DOI 10.11648/j.wros.20170602.11
Page(s) 23-34
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2017. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Seawater, Salinity, Conductivity, Density, Sediment, Formation Factor, Limnology

References
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    Marc Le Menn, Laurent Pacaud. (2017). Effect of Sediment Suspensions on Seawater Salinity Assessments. Journal of Water Resources and Ocean Science, 6(2), 23-34. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.wros.20170602.11

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    ACS Style

    Marc Le Menn; Laurent Pacaud. Effect of Sediment Suspensions on Seawater Salinity Assessments. J. Water Resour. Ocean Sci. 2017, 6(2), 23-34. doi: 10.11648/j.wros.20170602.11

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    AMA Style

    Marc Le Menn, Laurent Pacaud. Effect of Sediment Suspensions on Seawater Salinity Assessments. J Water Resour Ocean Sci. 2017;6(2):23-34. doi: 10.11648/j.wros.20170602.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.wros.20170602.11,
      author = {Marc Le Menn and Laurent Pacaud},
      title = {Effect of Sediment Suspensions on Seawater Salinity Assessments},
      journal = {Journal of Water Resources and Ocean Science},
      volume = {6},
      number = {2},
      pages = {23-34},
      doi = {10.11648/j.wros.20170602.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.wros.20170602.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.wros.20170602.11},
      abstract = {The absolute salinity of seawater can be assessed by conductivity measurements and the calculation of a practical salinity, or by density measurements. The effect of low concentrations of suspended particulate matter on these measurements has never been documented, but the theories developed to explain and predict the conductivity of sediments show clearly that, under an electrical field, they interact with the ionic composition of seawater. Moreover, it can be easily shown that adding any quantity of particles has an effect on the measured density of a seawater sample. This publication describes a measurement method settled to measure the effect of sediment particles on seawater conductivity and proposes relations for explaining and predicting the observed phenomena. It also describes the effects of particles on density measurements. The results obtained show that the errors on the measured conductivities (and practical salinities) caused by sand in suspensions, are less than 0.001 mS cm-1 (on average) with concentrations encountered in oceans fields, but that these cannot be neglected in some coastal areas. The amplitude of the measurement noise leaded by particles circulation in the conductivity cell exceeds 0.002 in salinity beyond 200 mg l-1. For density measurements, the threshold for keeping the error inferior to the uncertainty of 0.004 kg m-3 usually obtained with vibrating tube densimeters, is much lower, 9 mg l-1, and close to the concentrations encountered in the open ocean.},
     year = {2017}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Effect of Sediment Suspensions on Seawater Salinity Assessments
    AU  - Marc Le Menn
    AU  - Laurent Pacaud
    Y1  - 2017/04/28
    PY  - 2017
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.wros.20170602.11
    DO  - 10.11648/j.wros.20170602.11
    T2  - Journal of Water Resources and Ocean Science
    JF  - Journal of Water Resources and Ocean Science
    JO  - Journal of Water Resources and Ocean Science
    SP  - 23
    EP  - 34
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2328-7993
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.wros.20170602.11
    AB  - The absolute salinity of seawater can be assessed by conductivity measurements and the calculation of a practical salinity, or by density measurements. The effect of low concentrations of suspended particulate matter on these measurements has never been documented, but the theories developed to explain and predict the conductivity of sediments show clearly that, under an electrical field, they interact with the ionic composition of seawater. Moreover, it can be easily shown that adding any quantity of particles has an effect on the measured density of a seawater sample. This publication describes a measurement method settled to measure the effect of sediment particles on seawater conductivity and proposes relations for explaining and predicting the observed phenomena. It also describes the effects of particles on density measurements. The results obtained show that the errors on the measured conductivities (and practical salinities) caused by sand in suspensions, are less than 0.001 mS cm-1 (on average) with concentrations encountered in oceans fields, but that these cannot be neglected in some coastal areas. The amplitude of the measurement noise leaded by particles circulation in the conductivity cell exceeds 0.002 in salinity beyond 200 mg l-1. For density measurements, the threshold for keeping the error inferior to the uncertainty of 0.004 kg m-3 usually obtained with vibrating tube densimeters, is much lower, 9 mg l-1, and close to the concentrations encountered in the open ocean.
    VL  - 6
    IS  - 2
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Metrology and Chemical Oceanography Department, French Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service (Shom), Brest, France

  • Metrology and Chemical Oceanography Department, French Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service (Shom), Brest, France

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