this post was submitted on 21 Jun 2025
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Mildly Interesting
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Hey, look a feature every mammal may need to evolve in the near future!
Are oceans getting saltier? The glaciers that are melting are pure freshwater
EDIT
I'm not an expert but from a quick googling it seems the oceans are getting LESS salty
https://www.llnl.gov/article/37921/atmospheric-warming-altering-ocean-salinity-and-water-cycle
The issue is not more/less salt in the oceans, but fewer and less reliable sources of freshwater.
Which makes it the perfect time to evolve!
Oceans getting less salt
Rivers and lakes in Canada getting more salt
But I think they were referring to running out of reliable fresh water due to drought
I suppose that's only a short-term effect.
Long-term prognosis should be the oceans getting saltier because of the rivers carrying salt into the oceans until the equilibrium between salt being carried into the oceans and salt being sedimented at the ocean bed has been restored.
Well, in geological time frames 'short-term' can be quite a long timespan.
You're halfway there! If the oceans are getting less salty, where else's the extra water coming from?
I literally already said the answer to that in my original comment.
I think that what SpaceNoodle is trying to say is that the decrease in ocean salinity is correlated to a decrease in fresh water, so even though salinity is dropping, adaptations need to be made because we will run out of fresh water.
Uhh, no you didn't? At least, not the way I interpret it.
It looks like you were saying "oceans are getting less salty, and therefore this adaptation is less needed". But @[email protected] was saying "the reason they're getting less salty is because fresh water is becoming more scarce, and therefore the adaptations are more needed".
But why male models?
Sorry, I meant where else.