Donita Hewitt, age 10, of Monroe, Iowa, for her question:

Is it true that you find fresh water in the Atlantic Ocean?

The waters of the salty seas are loaded with bitter tasting chemicals. Almost everywhere in the world ocean, the salty mixture is more or less the same. The waters of the sea are forever mixing and merging in tides and ocean currents. But there are some places where we may find fresh water far out at sea. This water may be a little less salty than sea water or almost as salt free as an inland lake. Such places are few and as a rule it takes an expert to find them.

An iceberg is made of frozen fresh water from rain and snow. When it breaks away from the land, the big chunk of fresh water ice drifts off in the salty sea. As it melts, it adds fresh water to the sea around it. Icebergs of the polar regions add pools and puddles of fresh water to the North and South Atlantic. This fresh ice water soon mixes and mingles with the salty sea water around it. When a great river joins the ocean, its strong current may carry its streaming fresh water far out to sea. We are told that men on old sailing ships let down buckets for drinking water in the Atlantic, 300 miles from land. There a current of fresh water is swept out into the ocean by the mighty Amazon River.