Hurricanes rage deep beneath the surface of the sea

Today’s question: What happens under the surface of the ocean during a hurricane? That’s a good one. We gape at all that death and destruction hurricanes bring that we can see. Leave it to you people to look at things upside down.

Hurricanes don’t just skim along the surface. There is also a lot of death and destruction in the briny deep that we seldom consider.

In normal circumstances, the water at the upper levels of the ocean is warmer and fresher than the water way down deep.

When a hurricane with its huge waves and currents comes along everything gets all mixed up, especially as the storm moves closer to shallower coastal waters.

Colder, saltier water gets pulled up to the surface, which can sometimes weaken the storm by taking away the warm water the hurricane feeds on.

The storm sets up powerful underwater currents that can last for several days after the worst of the storm has passed. These currents can wreck coral reefs, break oil pipelines and dislocate tons of sands and seabed and underwater debris.

Large marine life can sense of the changes in pressure ahead of the storm and head for deeper water or swim out of the way. Smaller fish, sea turtles, oysters, crabs and the like are killed, either by the pounding surf, reduced oxygen or changes in salinity levels.

A number of you also are wondering if the rain brought on by hurricanes is salty. Sea spray is salty, but rainwater isn’t. The salts are left behind when the moisture evaporates into the air.