What are the properties of surface water masses?

The zoning of water masses in the ocean is complicated by the impact of land and sea currents. This is manifested primarily in the distribution of surface water temperatures. In many regions of the ocean, isotherms near the coast deviate sharply from the latitudinal direction.
The northern half of the ocean is warmer than the southern, the temperature difference reaches up to 6 ° C. The mediocre surface water temperature (16.5 ° C) is slightly lower than in the Pacific Ocean. The cooling effect is exerted by the water and ice of the Arctic and Antarctic. The salinity of shallow waters in the Atlantic Ocean is high. One of the factors of high salinity is that a significant portion of the moisture evaporating from the water area will not return to the ocean in any way, but is transferred to the surrounding continents (due to the comparative narrowness of the ocean).