Salinities: PPT vs PPM
 

Ok, I'm not trying to knock anyone here, just thought I would post this as a little friendly education opportunity. I've seen a lot of people on here that seem to be misinformed as to what a saline environment is. A lot of people use ppm on here, which is nothing wrong with that, but I feel some people don't know how much 5 ppm is for example.

Ppm means parts salt per a million parts water, so 5 ppm is not a high salinity. On the other hand, 5 ppt, which is 5000 ppm, is a much higher salinity (obviously). Sea water is 32 ppt, brackish marshes are from about 3 to 15 ppt, and 15 to 32 ppt is a salt marsh. That depends on what system you go by, numbers vary based on source. I can tell you the salinity at the weirs before all of this rain was in the 28 ppt range. Everyone that fished down there before all this rain started back in January knows how saline it was.

So hope that gives yall alittle better understanding of salinities and concentrations. Hope I didn't offend anyone, just thought I would offer some of my expertise on the topic.

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Being better informed never offended me.


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The USGS charts that a commonly used to show Salinity has reading in Parts per 1000.

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/la/nwis/uv...te_no=08017044

Yeah and I see those referenced a lot, but I also see a lot of people reference ppm, and for the amounts I see posted, like 5 ppm, that's not saline at all, its pretty much fresh.

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You killing me Smalls! good stuff you are correct

Good post sir, get that masters, can't get enough education. Took early retirement from a local lab 2 years ago. Good educational info.

What if it's ppb???!!?? :eek:

That's parts per billion. PPB would be smaller in comparison to PPM. PPT is parts per thousand, PPM is parts per million. So it's : PPT = 1 part in a thousand; PPM = 1 part in a million; PPB= 1 part in a billion






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Lol I know. Try making a ppb carbonyl sulfide standard. ;)

[QUOTE=DannyI;406207]That's parts per billion. PPB would be smaller in comparison to PPM. PPT is parts per thousand, PPM is parts per million. So it's : PPT = 1 part in a thousand; PPM = 1 part in a million; PPB= 1 part in a billion


One field test I use to run was oxygen level in untreated [no sufphite treatment] Deareated boiler feed water. This test was done in a big glass tube and after the sample was gathered, a chemical was injected. The change of color determined the PPB amount of oxygen in the water.

The "test" was run every couple of months to determine if the steam injection process was working properly and was "stripping" out the oxygen from the water.

If the test showed more that ~ 3 PPB, I would test more often to determine if / when maintence repairs would be required.

Haha, thanks man. That masters is somethin else. Hard stuff, but it'll be worth it in the end when I (hopefully) get on with wildlife and fisheries.

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Yessir most ppb stds tough to make. I had all the chromatographs, sulfur analyzers, x-ray machines @ CITGO lab for last 34 years of 42 yrs service. Can honestly say don't miss it at all though I enjoyed my job.