Editing Salinity (section)

{{Short description|Proportion of salt dissolved in water}}
{{Water salinity}}
[[File:WOA09 sea-surf SAL AYool.png|thumb|upright=1.3|right|Annual mean sea surface '''salinity''' for the [[World Ocean]]. Data from the [[World Ocean Atlas]] 2009.<ref>[http://www.nodc.noaa.gov/OC5/WOA09/pr_woa09.html World Ocean Atlas 2009]. nodc.noaa.gov</ref>]]
[[File:IAPSO Standard Seawater.jpg|thumb|upright|right|International Association for the Physical Sciences of the Oceans (IAPSO) standard seawater.]]
'''Salinity''' ({{IPAc-en|s|ə|ˈ|l|ɪ|n|ɪ|t|i}}) is the saltiness or amount of [[salt (chemistry)|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 [[per mille|‰]]). 

Salinity is an important factor in determining many aspects of the [[chemistry]] of natural waters and of [[biological]] processes within it, and is a [[state function|thermodynamic state variable]] that, along with [[temperature]] and [[pressure]], governs physical characteristics like the [[density]] and [[heat capacity]] of the water.

A [[contour line]] of constant salinity is called an ''isohaline'', or sometimes ''isohale''.