Time for some turkey and mashed potatoes – poolside

Newcomer Alert: I almost forgot all about this. I’m glad I remembered in time, even if it is at the last minute.

Newcomers, or at least newcomers to the Valley: On Thanksgiving Day, you are duty bound to call friends and family in the East and Midwest and tell them you are having dinner by the pool.

You don’t really have to have dinner by the pool. Just tell them you are. And later tell them your house burned down so you won’t have them hanging around mooching off you all winter.

Now, today’s question:

You are partially right, and that’s OK. Here at Valley 101 headquarters, we often consider partially right a day’s work well done.

Over the past 50 years, the salinity of ocean waters near the poles has decreased because of all that fresh-melt water.

However, closer to the Equator, warmer air means more evaporation. Since salts and other stuff get left behind in the process, salinity levels are increasing. How all this affects ocean life varies from species to species, which is just a way of saying I’m too lazy to look up the details.

We do know this: Salinity is one of the factors involved in the strength of currents that move ocean water. Any changes to the currents will be slow, but scientists say unless global warming is slowed, those changes will happen. And nobody seems to know for sure what the consequences might be.