The haline contraction coefficient measures the fractional increase of mass density with salinity at fixed temperature and pressure:Its units depend on the salinity variable : a dimensionless mass fraction and a value in grams per kilogram require different numerical coefficients.
For small changes, , with thermal expansion coefficient . This formula separates two competing buoyancy contributions. In thermosolutal convection, their combination determines the static density gradient, while unequal diffusion rates determine whether that apparently stable gradient can nevertheless become unstable.
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The haline contraction coefficient, often denoted as \(\beta\), is a parameter used in oceanography to quantify how the density of seawater changes with variations in salinity at a constant temperature and pressure. Specifically, it measures the change in density per unit change in salinity.