Surface Tension of Seawater

New measurements and a reference correlation for the surface tension of seawater at atmospheric pressure are presented in this paper. Surface tension of seawater was measured across a salinity range of 20 <= S <= 131 g/kg and a temperature range of 1 <= t <= 92 degrees C at atmospheric pressure using the Wilhelmy plate method. The uncertainty within measurements varied from 0.18 to 0.37 mN/m with the average uncertainty being 0.22 mN/m. The experimental procedures were validated with tests conducted on ACS reagent grade water and aqueous sodium chloride solutions. Literature data and present measurements were evaluated and a reference correlation was developed expressing surface tension of seawater as a function of temperature and salinity. The average absolute percentage deviation between measurements and the correlation was 0.19% while the maximum deviation was 0.60%. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.