Journal articles on the topic 'Estuarine eutrophication – New England'

Abstract Increasing the protection of coastal vegetated ecosystems has been suggested as one strategy to compensate for increasing carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere as the capacity of these habitats to sequester and store carbon exceeds that of terrestrial habitats. Seagrasses are a group of foundation species that grow in shallow coastal and estuarine systems and have an exceptional ability to sequester and store large quantities of carbon in biomass and, particularly, in sediments. However, carbon stocks (Corg stocks) and carbon accumulation rates (Corg accumulation) in seagrass meadows are highly variable both spatially and temporally, making it difficult to extrapolate this strategy to areas where information is lacking. In this study, Corg stocks and Corg accumulation were determined at 11 eelgrass meadows across New England, representing a range of eutrophication and exposure conditions. In addition, the environmental factors and structural characteristics of meadows related to variation in Corg stocks were identified. The objectives were accomplished by assessing stable isotopes of δ13C and δ15N as well as %C and %N in plant tissues and sediments, measuring grain size and 210Pb of sediment cores, and through assessing site exposure. Variability in Corg stocks in seagrass meadows is well predicted using commonly measured environmental variables such as grain size distribution. This study allows incorporation of data and insights for the northwest Atlantic, where few studies on carbon sequestration by seagrasses have been conducted.

Abstract. Coastal waters globally are increasingly impacted due to the anthropogenic loading of nitrogen (N) from the watershed. To assess dominant sources contributing to the eutrophication of the Little Narragansett Bay estuary in New England, we carried out an annual study of N loading from the Pawcatuck River. We conducted weekly monitoring of nutrients and nitrate (NO3-) isotope ratios (15N / 14N, 18O / 16O, and 17O / 16O) at the mouth of the river and from the larger of two wastewater treatment facilities (WWTFs) along the estuary, as well as seasonal along-river surveys. Our observations reveal a direct relationship between N loading and the magnitude of river discharge and a consequent seasonality to N loading into the estuary – rendering loading from the WWTFs and from an industrial site more important at lower river flows during warmer months, comprising ∼ 23 % and ∼ 18 % of N loading, respectively. Riverine nutrients derived predominantly from deeper groundwater and the industrial point source upriver in summer and from shallower groundwater and surface flow during colder months – wherein NO3- associated with deeper groundwater had higher 15N / 14N ratios than shallower groundwater. Corresponding NO3- 18O / 16O ratios were lower during the warm season, due to increased biological cycling in-river. Uncycled atmospheric NO3-, detected from its unique mass-independent NO3- 17O / 16O vs. 18O / 16O fractionation, accounted for < 3 % of riverine NO3-, even at elevated discharge. Along-river, NO3- 15N / 14N ratios showed a correspondence to regional land use, increasing from agricultural and forested catchments to the more urbanized watershed downriver. The evolution of 18O / 16O isotope ratios along-river conformed to the notion of nutrient spiraling, reflecting the input of NO3- from the catchment and from in-river nitrification and its coincident removal by biological consumption. These findings stress the importance of considering seasonality of riverine N sources and loading to mitigate eutrophication in receiving estuaries. Our study further advances a conceptual framework that reconciles with the current theory of riverine nutrient cycling, from which to robustly interpret NO3- isotope ratios to constrain cycling and source partitioning in river systems.

Land clearing, river impoundments, and other human modifications to the upland landscape and within estuarine systems can drive coastal change at local to regional scales. However, as compared with mid-latitude coasts, the impacts of human modifications along sediment-starved formerly glaciated coastal landscapes are relatively understudied. To address this gap, we present a late-Holocene record of changing sediment accumulation rates and sediment sources from sediment cores collected across a tidal flat in the Merrimack River estuary (Mass., USA). We pair sedimentology, geochronology, bulk- and stable-isotope organic geochemistry, and hydrodynamic simulations with historical data to evaluate human and natural impacts on coastal sediment fluxes. During the 17th to 19th centuries, accumulation rates increased by an order of magnitude in the central tidal flat, likely in response to enhanced delivery of terrestrial sediment resulting from upland deforestation. However, the overall increase in accumulation (0.56–2.6 mm/year) within the estuary is subtle and spatially variable across the tidal flats because of coincident anthropogenic land clearing and dam building, upland sediment storage, and estuarine hydrodynamics. This study provides insight into the response of formerly glaciated fluvial-coastal systems to human modifications, and underscores the role of estuarine environmental conditions in modifying upland signals of land-use change.

Nitrogen pollution above a threshold level induces a eutrophication process in coastal creek ecosystems and consequently impacts on the water quality. The remedy for this scenario is the introduction of methods to enhance oligotrophication by means of constructed wetlands and buffer zones. This paper discusses new data on nitrogen flux and population changes in the primary consumers in the Bradley Creek ecosystem, adjacent to the Duck Haven Golf Course in southeastern North Carolina. In 1998-99, over different seasons, density distribution of the field populations of the fiddler crab Uca minax, was monitored as an indicator of environmental health. A control site at Whiskey Creek, adjacent to the University Center for Marine Sciences, was monitored in the same period since this site is not influenced by any golf course nutrient flux. The results pointed out that threshold level for optimum population density in Spartina grandiflora salt marsh is 0.1 mg/L of nitrates. A dense crab population, adjacent to the golf course with a buffer zone, was indicative of restoration of the estuarine ecosystem. A model, involving the use of constructed wetlands for oligotrophication, is being prepared on the basis of studies conducted by the University of South Alabama for a stormwater wetland constructed adjacent to the university's golf course.

Perforated plates of fired clay have long been recognised as a component of Late Bronze Age material culture in south-eastern England, but recent developer-funded excavations have produced a wealth of new evidence. These artefacts, showing a considerable degree of standardisation, are now known from more than 70 sites, which show a markedly riverine and estuarine distribution along the lower Thames. Their function is still uncertain, but it is suggested that they were parts of ovens for baking bread, a new technology for food preparation in the later Bronze Age. Some of the largest assemblages of such plates are found at strongly defended sites, and it is further suggested that the baking and consumption of bread was particularly associated with such sites of social authority. The estuarine distribution is discussed in this paper, and it presents further evidence for the regionally distinctive nature of food consumption in later prehistory.

Due to their dynamic mode of operation, waste treatment pond and activated sludge plant effluents always contain quite large amounts of nitrogen relative to those found in natural lakes, streams, and oceans. Typical activated sludge plant effluents contain 25 mgl-1 N, mostly as ammonia. In most aquatic milieux, concentrations of ammonia &gt; 1 mgl-1 N are potentially toxic to fish and other wildlife. Nitrification and denitrification of activated sludge plant effluent alleviates the ammonia problem at a considerable cost but the discharges still usually contain over 10 mgl-1 NO3-N which exceeds the WHO standard for drinking water. A great advantage of waste treatment pond effluents is that nitrogen is normally already present as nitrate or particulate-N (algae and bacteria), and nitrate concentrations are &lt; 5 mgl-1 NO3-N. However, even 1 mgl-1 of nitrate-N is sufficient to cause eutrophication in unpolluted lakes, streams, and oceans and some of the particulate-N discharged will be recycled to give eutrophication downstream. Where sufficient diluting water is available, these higher effluent concentrations are not a problem. Unfortunately, clean diluting water is becoming a scarce commodity in many areas, particularly the 17 semi-arid states in the USA and in most developing countries where rainfall is needed for drinking water and wildlife support. One solution for nitrogen removal is new design for free surface constructed wetlands which have considerable potential for nitrogen polishing of waste treatment pond effluents. Particulate-N can be removed by using wetlands as large filters but the nitrogen often recycles and is released as ammonia in winter and spring. Denitrification of nitrate to N2 gas removes the problem permanently. In particular, the relatively low BOD, high nitrate and low ammonia effluent from some stabilization ponds is ideal for nitrate removal (denitrification) by free surface wetlands. Rates of nitrate removal of 200 to over 5,000 mg N m-2 d-1 can be achieved with initial nitrate values of 2-14 mgl-1 NO3-N. These rates are 1-2 orders of magnitude greater than occur in most natural lake, estuarine or wetlands sediments and can be mostly attributed to denitrification rather than growth of rooted plants. In two weeks 20 mgl-1 NO3-N can be reduced to less than 1 mgl-1. After wetlands treatment the water is suitable for release into water-depleted live streams or lakes where a low eutrophication potential is vital for native biota. It is recommended that pond effluent be routed thorough constructed wetlands whenever possible since both better water quality and wildlife benefits occur.

The Pearl River estuary is an ecologically dynamic region located in southern China that experiences strong gradients in its biogeochemical properties. This study examined the seasonality of nutrient dynamics, identified related environmental responses, and evaluated how river discharge regulated nutrient sink and source. The field investigation showed significant differences of dissolved nutrients with seasons and three zones of the estuary regarding the estuarine characteristics. Spatially, nutrients exhibited a clear decreasing trend along the salinity gradient; temporally, their levels were obviously higher in summer than other seasons. The aquatic environment was overall eutrophic, as a result of increased fluxes of nitrogen and silicate. This estuary was thus highly sensitive to nutrient enrichment and related pollution of eutrophication. River discharge, oceanic current, and atmospheric deposition distinctly influenced the nutrient status. These factors accordingly may influence phytoplankton that are of importance in coastal ecosystems. Phytoplankton (in terms of chlorophyll) was potentially phosphate limited, which then more frequently resulted in nutrient pollution and blooms. Additionally, the nutrient sources were implied according to the cause–effect chains between nutrients, hydrology, and chlorophyll, identified by the PCA-generated quantification. Nitrogen was constrained by marine-riverine waters and their mutual increase-decline trend, and a new source was supplemented along the transport from river to sea, while a different source of terrestrial emission from coastal cities contributed to phosphate greatly.

Abstract. Coastal hypoxia (<1.42 ml L−1; 62.5 μM; 2 mg L−1, approx. 30% oxygen saturation) occurs seasonally in many estuaries, fjords, and along open coasts subject to upwelling or excessive riverine nutrient input, and permanently in some isolated seas and marine basins. Underlying causes of hypoxia include enhanced nutrient input from natural causes (upwelling) or anthropogenic origin (eutrophication) and reduction of mixing by limited circulation or enhanced stratification; combined these lead to higher surface water production, microbial respiration and eventual oxygen depletion. Advective inputs of low-oxygen waters may initiate or expand hypoxic conditions. Responses of estuarine, enclosed sea, and open shelf benthos to hypoxia depend on the duration, predictability, and intensity of oxygen depletion and on whether H2S is formed. Under suboxic conditions, large mats of filamentous sulfide oxidizing bacteria cover the seabed and consume sulfide, thereby providing a detoxified microhabitat for eukaryotic benthic communities. Calcareous foraminiferans and nematodes are particularly tolerant of low oxygen concentrations and may attain high densities and dominance, often in association with microbial mats. When oxygen is sufficient to support metazoans, small, soft-bodied invertebrates (typically annelids), often with short generation times and elaborate branchial structures, predominate. Large taxa are more sensitive than small taxa to hypoxia. Crustaceans and echinoderms are typically more sensitive to hypoxia, with lower oxygen thresholds, than annelids, sipunculans, molluscs and cnidarians. Mobile fish and shellfish will migrate away from low-oxygen areas. Within a species, early life stages may be more subject to oxygen stress than older life stages. Hypoxia alters both the structure and function of benthic communities, but effects may differ with regional hypoxia history. Human-caused hypoxia is generally linked to eutrophication, and occurs adjacent to watersheds with large populations or agricultural activities. Many occurrences are seasonal, within estuaries, fjords or enclosed seas of the North Atlantic and the NW Pacific Oceans. Benthic faunal responses, elicited at oxygen levels below 2 ml L−1, typically involve avoidance or mortality of large species and elevated abundances of enrichment opportunists, sometimes prior to population crashes. Areas of low oxygen persist seasonally or continuously beneath upwelling regions, associated with the upper parts of oxygen minimum zones (SE Pacific, W Africa, N Indian Ocean). These have a distribution largely distinct from eutrophic areas and support a resident fauna that is adapted to survive and reproduce at oxygen concentrations <0.5 ml L−1. Under both natural and eutrophication-caused hypoxia there is loss of diversity, through attrition of intolerant species and elevated dominance, as well as reductions in body size. These shifts in species composition and diversity yield altered trophic structure, energy flow pathways, and corresponding ecosystem services such as production, organic matter cycling and organic C burial. Increasingly the influences of nature and humans interact to generate or exacerbate hypoxia. A warmer ocean is more stratified, holds less oxygen, and may experience greater advection of oxygen-poor source waters, making new regions subject to hypoxia. Future understanding of benthic responses to hypoxia must be established in the context of global climate change and other human influences such as overfishing, pollution, disease, habitat loss, and species invasions.

Much speculation and some evidence suggest that jellyfish and ctenophore populations have increased in recent decades. Unfortunately, few past records exist with which to compare current populations, and our knowledge of how environmental factors affect jellyfish population size is meagre. Human enterprise has wrought many changes in the ocean that are hypothesized to favour jellyfish, including eutrophication, reduction of fish stocks, and global warming. In addition to anthropogenic changes, natural climate cycles may affect jellyfish populations. Records of jellyfish and ctenophore abundance that appear to be related to indices of climate variations (temperature, salinity, North Atlantic Oscillation, North Pacific Decadal Oscillation, El Niño Southern Oscillation) are reviewed. In eleven species studied from subtropical, temperate and subarctic environments, warm temperatures were related to large population sizes; three scyphozoan species in the North Sea, and one mesopelagic hydromedusan were exceptions to that trend. One tropical scyphomedusan species was decimated by unusually warm, salty El Niño conditions in Palau. Because climate changes have complex ecosystem-level effects, the proximate causes of jellyfish increases are difficult to deduce. Therefore, the effects of temperature, salinity and prey on asexual production of new medusae from the benthic polyps of scyphomedusae and hydromedusae also are reviewed. Experiments on temperate species show greater and more rapid production of medusae at warmer temperatures. Salinity also had significant effects, and was especially important for estuarine species. Temperature and salinity affect asexual reproduction rates directly through metabolism, and indirectly through prey capture. Ocean warming may shift the distributions, expand the seasonal occurrence, and increase the abundances of temperate-boreal species. Populations living near their thermal maximum may suffer negative consequences of warming.

Amoeboid protists that harbor bacterial pathogens are of significant interest as potential reservoirs of disease-causing organisms in the environment, but little is known about them in marine and other saline environments. We enriched amoeba cultures from sediments from four sites in the New England estuarine system of Mt. Hope Bay, Massachusetts and from sediments from six sites in the Great Salt Lake, Utah. Cultures of amoebae were enriched using both minimal- and non-nutrient agar plates, made with fresh water, brackish water or saltwater. Recovered amoeba cultures were assayed for the presence of Legionella species using nested polymerase chain reactions (PCR) and primers specific for the genus. Positive samples were then screened with nested amplification using primers specific for the macrophage infectivity potentiator surface protein (mip) gene from L. pneumophila. Forty-eight percent (185 out of 388) of isolated amoeba cultures were positive for the presence of Legionella species. Legionella pneumophila was detected by PCR in 4% of the amoeba cultures (17 out of 388), and most of these amoebae were growing on marine media. Our results show that amoebae capable of growing in saline environments may harbor not only a diverse collection of Legionella species, but also species potentially pathogenic to humans.

Machimosaurus was a large-bodied genus of teleosaurid crocodylomorph, considered to have been durophagous/chelonivorous, and which frequented coastal marine/estuarine ecosystems during the Late Jurassic. Here, we revise the genus based on previously described specimens and revise the species within this genus. We conclude that there were three European Machimosaurus species and another taxon in Ethiopia. This conclusion is based on numerous lines of evidence: craniomandibular, dental and postcranial morphologies; differences in estimated total body length; geological age; geographical distribution; and hypothetical lifestyle. We re-diagnose the type species Machimosaurus hugii and limit referred specimens to only those from Upper Kimmeridgian–Lower Tithonian of Switzerland, Portugal and Spain. We also re-diagnose Machimosaurus mosae , demonstrate that it is an available name and restrict the species to the uppermost Kimmeridgian–lowermost Tithonian of northeastern France. We re-diagnose and validate the species Machimosaurus nowackianus from Harrar, Ethiopia. Finally, we establish a new species, Machimosaurus buffetauti , for the Lower Kimmeridgian specimens of France and Germany (and possibly England and Poland). We hypothesize that Machimosaurus may have been analogous to the Pliocene–Holocene genus Crocodylus in having one large-bodied taxon suited to traversing marine barriers and additional, geographically limited taxa across its range.

ABSTRACT Although the presence of pathogenic Vibrio spp. in estuarine environments of northern New England has been known for some time (C. H. Bartley and L. W. Slanetz, Appl. Microbiol. 21: 965-966, 1971, and K. R. O'Neil, S. H. Jones, and D. J. Grimes, FEMS Microbiol. Lett. 60:163-167, 1990), their virulence and the relative threat they may pose to human health has yet to be evaluated. In this study, the virulence potential of 33 Vibrio parahaemolyticus isolates collected from the Great Bay Estuary of New Hampshire was assessed in comparison to that of clinical strains. The environmental isolates lack thermostable direct hemolysin (TDH) and TDH-related hemolysin (TRH), which are encoded by tdh and trh, respectively. Though not hemolytic, they do possess putative virulence factors, such type III secretion system 1, and are highly cytotoxic to human gastrointestinal cells. The expression of known and putative virulence-associated traits, including hemolysin, protease, motility, biofilm formation, and cytotoxicity, by clinical reference isolates correlated with increased temperature from 28°C to 37°C. In contrast, the environmental isolates did not induce their putative virulence-associated traits in response to a temperature of 37°C. We further identified a significant correlation between hemolytic activity and growth phase among clinical strains, whereby hemolysin production decreases with increasing cell density. The introduction of a tdh::gfp promoter fusion into the environmental strains revealed that they regulate this virulence-associated gene appropriately in response to temperature, indicating that their existing regulatory mechanisms are primed to manage newly acquired virulence genes.

AbstractThe nature and origin of the clay mineralogy of the Jurassic strata of the British Isles are described and discussed within their lithological and biostratigraphical framework using published and unpublished sources as well as 1800 new clay mineral analyses. Regional clay mineral variation is described systematically for the following formations or groups:England and Wales(i)Hettangian-Toarcian strata (Lias Group): Redcar Mudstone Fm.; Staithes Sandstone Fm.; Cleveland Ironstone Fm.; Whitby Mudstone Fm.; Scunthorpe Mudstone Fm.; Blue Lias Fm.; Charmouth Mudstone Fm.; Marlstone Rock Fm.; Dyrham Fm.; Beacon Limestone Fm.; Bridport Sand Fm.(ii)Aalenian-Bajocian (Inferior Oolite Group): Dogger Fm.; Saltwick Fm.; Eller Beck Fm.; Cloughton Fm.; Scarborough Fm.; Scalby Fm. (in part); Northampton Sand Fm.; Grantham Fm.; Lincolnshire Limestone Fm.; Rutland Fm. (in part); Inferior Oolite of southern England.(iii)Bathonian (Great Oolite Group): Scalby Fm. (in part); Rutland Fm. (in part); Blisworth Limestone Fm.; Great Oolite Group of southern England; Forest Marble Fm.; Cornbrash Fm. (in part).(iv)Callovian-Oxfordian: Cornbrash Fm. (in part); Kellaways Fm.; Oxford Clay Fm.; Corallian Beds and West Walton Beds; Ampthill Clay Fm.(v)Kimmeridgian-Tithonian: Kimmeridge Clay Fm.; Portland Sandstone Fm.; Portland Limestone Fm.; Lulworth Fm.; Spilsby Sandstone Fm. (in part). Scotland(vi)Hettangian-Toarcian: Broadfoot Beds, Dunrobin Bay Fm. Aalenian-Portlandian: Great Estuarine Group (Dunkulm, Kilmaluag and Studiburgh Fm.s); Staffin Shale Fm.; Brora Coal Fm.; Brora Argillaceous Fm.; Balintore Fm.; Helmsdale Boulder Beds (Kimmeridge Clay Fm.).Dominating the Jurassic successions are the great marine mudstone formations — the Lias Group, Oxford Clay, Ampthill Clay and Kimmeridge Clay. These are typically characterized by a detrital clay mineral assemblage of mica, kaolin and poorly defined mixed-layer smectite-mica-vermiculite minerals with traces of chlorite. Detailed evidence suggests that this assemblage is derived ultimately from weathered Palaeozoic sediments and metasediments either directly or by being recycled from earlier Mesozoic sediments. A potassium-bearing clay is a persistent component and formed at approximately the same time as the deposition of the host sediment, either in coeval soils or during very early diagenesis.At three periods during the deposition of the Jurassic (Bajocian-Bathonian, Oxfordian and late Kimmeridgian-Tithonian), the detrital clay assemblage was completely or partially replaced by authigenic clay mineral assemblages rich in kaolin, berthierine, glauconite or smectite minerals. Associated with these changes are major changes in the lithofacies, with the incoming of non-marine and proximal marine strata. The authigenic clay assemblages rich in kaolin and berthierine are generally restricted to the non-marine and very proximal marine beds, those rich in glauconite or smectite are typical of the marine lithofacies. Clay mineral assemblages containing vermiculite and mixed-layer vermiculite-chlorite sometimes occur in the non-marine and proximal marine facies. The causes of these major changes in lithofacies and clay mineralogy are discussed, and present evidence favours an important volcanogenic influence and not climatic control. It is suggested that the Bajocian-Bathonian, Oxfordian and Late Kimmeridgian-Tithonian were periods of enhanced volcanic activity, with centres probably located in the North Sea and linked to regional tectonic changes which caused major modifications of the palaeogeography of the British Isles. The most important of these changes was the development of the central North Sea Rift Dome during the Bajocian and Bathonian. Volcanic ash was widespread in both the non-marine and marine environments and its argillization under different conditions provided the wide range of authigenic clay mineral assemblages.Metre-scale clay mineral cyclicity is widespread in most of the Jurassic mudstone formations that have been examined in sufficient detail. The cyclicity is defined by systematic variations in the mica/ collapsible minerals (mixed-layer smectite-mica-vermiculite) ratio. This variation is unrelated to changes in lithology and its possible origins are discussed in detail using data from the Kimmeridge Clay provided by Reading University's contribution to the Rapid Global Geological Events (RGGE) Project.

Abstract Salt marsh degradation and loss is accelerating in many regions of the United States as well as worldwide. Multiple stressors are often responsible, sometimes including crab burrowing and herbivory. A recent national assessment identified stark differences in crab indicators between northern and southern New England, with the latter exhibiting intense signs of impacts by crabs, but more details on crab patterns across the entire region are needed beyond this “broad-brush” assessment. Our study used green crab (Carcinus maenas (Linnaeus, 1758)) traps, intensive marsh platform burrow counts, and a new multi-metric index of relative crab abundance to examine patterns in marsh crabs across four National Estuarine Research Reserves in New England. Crab indicators from the multi-metric index and burrow counts were higher in southern New England marshes; patterns from trapping of green crabs were less clear. At the marshes examined, green crabs were very abundant in Maine, lower in New Hampshire, and intermediate in southern New England. Our study confirms that abundance and impacts by crabs vary dramatically between sites in northern and southern New England, and provides improved context for managers and researchers when considering impacts to marshes from multiple crab species across New England and elsewhere.

ABSTRACT Dinosaur body fossil material is rare in Scotland, previously known almost exclusively from the Great Estuarine Group on the Isle of Skye. We report the first unequivocal dinosaur fossil from the Isle of Eigg, belonging to a Bathonian (Middle Jurassic) taxon of uncertain affinity. The limb bone NMS G.2020.10.1 is incomplete, but through a combination of anatomical comparison and osteohistology, we determine it most likely represents a stegosaur fibula. The overall proportions and cross-sectional geometry are similar to the fibulae of thyreophorans. Examination of the bone microstructure reveals a high degree of remodelling and randomly distributed longitudinal canals in the remaining primary cortical bone. This contrasts with the histological signal expected of theropod or sauropod limb bones, but is consistent with previous studies of thyreophorans, specifically stegosaurs. Previous dinosaur material from Skye and broadly contemporaneous sites in England belongs to this group, including Loricatosaurus and Sarcolestes and a number of indeterminate stegosaur specimens. Theropods such as Megalosaurus and sauropods such as Cetiosaurus are also known from these localities. Although we find strong evidence for a stegosaur affinity, diagnostic features are not observed on NMS G.2020.10.1, preventing us from referring it to any known genera. The presence of this large-bodied stegosaur on Eigg adds a significant new datapoint for dinosaur distribution in the Middle Jurassic of Scotland.

PREFACEThe articles of this supplement resulted from the 5 th International Congress of the Brazilian Geophysical Society held in São Paulo city, Brazil, at the Convention Center of the Transamérica Hotel, from 28 th September to 2 nd of October 1997. The participants of the Round Table Discussions on “Mean Sea Level Changes Along the Brazilian Coast” were Dr. Denizar Blitzkow, Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo, (POLI-USP), Prof. Dr. Waldenir Veronese Furtado, Institute of Oceanography (IO-USP), Dr. Joseph Harari (IO-USP), Dr. Roberto Teixeira from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), and the invited coordinator Prof. Dr. Afrânio Rubens de Mesquita (IO-USP). Soon after the first presentation of the IBGE representative, on the efforts of his Institute regarding sea level matters, it became clear that, apart from a M.Sc. Thesis of Mesquita (1968) and the contributions of Johannenssen (1967), Mesquita et al. (1986) and Mesquita et al. (1994), little was known by the participants, about the history of the primordial sea level measurements along the Brazilian coast, one of the objectives of the meeting. So, following the strong recommendations of the Table participants, a short review on the early Brazilian sea level measurements was planned for a much needed general historical account on the topic. For this purpose, several researchers such as The Commander Frederico Corner Bentes, Directorate of Hydrography and Navigation (DHN) of the Brazilian Navy, Ms. Maria Helena Severo (DHN) and Eng. Jose Antonio dos Santos, National Institute of Ports and Rivers (INPH), long involved with the national sea level measurements were asked to present their views. Promptly, they all provided useful information on the ports and present difficulties with the Brazilian Law relative to the “Terrenos de Marinha” (Sea/Land Limits). Admiral Max Justo Guedes of the General Documentation Service (SDG) of the Brazilian Navy gave an account of the first “Roteiros”– Safe ways to approach the cities (ports) of that time by the sea –, written by the Portuguese navigators in the XVI Century, on the newly found land of “Terra de Santa Cruz”, Brazil’s first given name. Admiral Dr. Alberto Dos Santos Franco (IO-USP/DHN) gave information on the first works on sea level analysis published by the National Observatory (ON) Scientists, Belford Vieira (1928) and Lemos (1928). In a visit to ON, which belongs to the National Council of Scientific and Technological Research (CNPq) and after a thorough discussion on sea level matters in Brazil, Dr. Luiz Muniz Barreto showed the Library Museum, where the Tide Predictor machine, purchased from England, in the beginning of the XX century, is well kept and preserved. Afterwards, Dr. Mauro de Andrade Sousa of ON, sent a photography (Fig. 1) of the Kelvin machine (the same Kelvin of the Absolute Temperature), a tide predictor firstly used in the Country by ON to produce Tide Tables. From 1964 until now, the astronomical prediction of Tides (Tide Tables) for most of the Brazilian ports is produced using computer software and published by the DHN. Before the 5 th International Congress of Geophysics, the Global Observing Sea Level System (GLOSS), a program of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO, had already offered a Training Course on sea level matters, in 1993 at IO-USP (IOC. 1999) and, six years later, a Training Workshop was also given at IO-USP in 1999 (IOC. 2000). Several participants of the Portuguese and Spanish speaking countries of the Americas and Africa (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mozambique, Uruguay, Peru, São Tome and Principe and Venezuela) were invited to take part in the Course and Workshop, under the auspices of the IOC. During the Training Course of 1993, Dr. David Pugh, Director of GLOSS, proposed to publish a Newsletter for sea level matters as a FORUM of the involved countries. The Newsletter, after the approval of the IOC Chairman at the time, Dr. Albert Tolkachev, ended up as the Afro America GLOSS News (AAGN). The newsletter had its first Edition published by IO-USP and was paper-printed up to its 4 th Edition. After that, under the registration Number ISSN: 1983-0319, from the CNPq and the new forum of GLOSS, which the Afro-American Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries already had, started to be disseminated only electronically. Currently on its 15 th Edition, the News Letter can be accessed on: www.mares.io.usp.br, Icon Afro America GLOSS News (AAGN),the electronic address of the “Laboratory of Tides and Oceanic Temporal Processes” (MAPTOLAB) of IO-USP, where other contributions on Brazilian sea level, besides the ones given in this Supplement, can also be found. The acronym GLOSS identifies the IOC program, which aims to produce an overall global long-term sea level data set from permanent measuring stations, distributed in ocean islands and all over the continental borders about 500 Km on average apart from each other, covering evenly both Earth hemispheres. The program follows the lines of the Permanent Service for the Mean Sea Level (PSMSL), a Service established in 1933 by the International Association for the Physical Sciences of the Ocean (IAPSO), which, however, has a much stronger and denser sea level data contribution from countries of the Northern Hemisphere. The Service receives and organizes sea level data sent by all countries with maritime borders, members of the United Nations (UN) and freely distributes the data to interested people, on the site http://www.pol.ac.uk/psmsl. The Permanent Station of Cananeia, Brazil, which has the GLOSS number 194 together with several other permanent stations (San Francisco, USA, Brest, France and many others), belongs to a chosen group of stations (Brazil has 9 GLOSS Stations) prepared to produce real time sea level, accompanied by gravity, GPS and meteorological high quality data measurements, aiming to contribute for a strictly reliable “in situ” data knowledge regarding the Global Earth sea level variability. Following the recommendations of the Round Table for a search of the first historical events, it was found that sea level measurements started in the Brazilian coast in 1781. The year when the Portuguese astronomer Sanches Dorta came to the Southern oceans, interested in studying the attraction between masses, applied to the oceanic tides a fundamental global law discovered by Isaak Newton in the seventeenth century. Nearly a hundred years later the Law was confirmed by Henry Cavendish. Another nearly hundred years passed and a few years after the transfer of the Portuguese Crown from Europe to Brazil, in 1808, the Port of Rio de Janeiro was occupied, in 1831, for the first systematic sea level measurements ever performed on the Brazilian coast. The one year recorded tidal signal, showing a clear semidiurnal tide is kept nowadays in the Library of the Directory of Hydrography and Navigation (DHN) of the Brazilian Navy. After the proclamation of the Brazilian Republic in 1889, systematic sea level measurements at several ports along the coast were organized and established by the Port Authorities precursors of INPH. Sea level analyses based on these measurements were made by Belford Vieira (op. cit.) and Lemos (op. cit.) of the aforementioned National Observatory (ON), and the Institute of the National Council of Research and Technology (CNPq), which gave the knowledge of tides and tidal analysis a valuable boost at that time. For some reason, the measurements of 1831 were included into the Brazilian Federal law No. 9760 of 1946, to serve as the National Reference (NR) for determining the sea/land limits of the “Terrenos de Marinha”, and inadvertently took it as if it were a fixed and permanent level along the years, which is known today to be untrue. Not only for this reason, but also for the fact that the datum, the reference level (RL) in the Port of Rio de Janeiro, to which the measurements of 1831 were referred to, was lost, making the 1946 Law inapplicable nowadays. The recommendations of the Round Table participants seemed to have been providential for the action which was taken, in order to solve these unexpected events. A method for recovering the 1831 limits of high waters, referred by Law 9760, was produced recently and is shown in this supplement. It is also shown the first attempt to identify, on the coast of São Paulo State, from the bathymetry of the marine charts produced by DHN, several details of the bottom of the shelf area. The Paleo Rivers and terraces covered by the most recent de-glaciation period, which started about 20,000 years ago, were computationally uncovered from the charts, showing several paleo entrances of rivers and other sediment features of the shelf around “Ilha Bela”, an island off the coast of S˜ao Sebastião. Another tidal analysis contribution, following the first studies of ON scientists, but now using computer facilities and the Fast Fourier Transform for tidal analysis, developed by Franco and Rock (1971), is also shown in this Supplement. Estimates of Constituents amplitudes as M2 and S2 seem to be decreasing along the years. In two ports of the coast this was effective, as a consequence of tidal energy being transferred from the astronomical Tide Generator Potential (PGM), created basically by the Sun and the Moon, to nonlinear components generated by tidal currents in a process of continuously modifying the beaches, estuarine borders and the shelf area. A study on the generation of nonlinear tidal components, also envisaged by Franco (2009) in his book on tides, seems to be the answer to some basic questions of this field of knowledge. Harari & Camargo (1994) worked along the same lines covering the entire South Eastern Shelf. As for Long Term Sea Level Trends, the sea level series produced by the National Institute of Research for Ports and Rivers (INPH), with the 10 years series obtained by the Geodetic Survey of USA, in various Brazilian ports, together with the sea level series of Cananeia of IO-USP, allowed the first estimation of Brazil’s long term trend, as about 30 cm/cty. A study comparing this value with the global value of sea level variation obtained from the PSMSL data series, shows that among the positively and negatively trended global tidal series, the Brazilian series are well above the mean global trend value of about 18 cm/cty. This result was communicated to IAPSO in the 1987 meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. In another attempt to decipher the long term sea level contents of these series, the correlation values, as a measure of collinearity and proximity values, as well as the distance of the yearly mean data values of sea level to the calculated regression line, are shown to be invariant with rotation of the Cartesian axes in this Supplement. Not following the recommendations of the Round Table but for the completeness of this Preface, these values, estimated from the Permanent Service for the Mean Sea Level data, with the Brazilian series included, allowed the definition of a function F, which, being also invariant with axis rotation, seems to measure the sort of characteristic state of variability of each sea level series. The plot of F values against the corresponding trend values of the 60 to 100 year-long PSMSL series is shown in Figure 2. This plot shows positive values of F reaching the 18 cm/cty, in good agreement with the recent International Panel for Climate Changes (IPCC) estimated global value. However, the negative side of the Figure also shows other values of F giving other information, which is enigmatic and is discussed in Mesquita (2004). For the comprehensiveness of this Preface and continuation of the subjects, although not exactly following the discussions of the Round Table, other related topics were developed since the 5th Symposium in 1997, for the extreme sea level events. They were estimated for the port of Cananeia, indicating average values of 2.80 m above mean sea level, which appears to be representative of the entire Brazilian coast and probable to occur within the next hundred years, as shown by Franco et al. (2007). Again for completeness, the topic on the steric and halosteric sea levels has also been talked about a lot after the 1997 reunion. Prospects of further studies on the topic rely on proposed oceanographic annual section measurements on the Southeastern coast, “The Capricorn Section,” aimed at estimating the variability and the long term steric and halosteric sea levels contributions, as expressed in Mesquita (2009). These data and the time series measurements (sea level, GPS, meteorology and gravity), already taken at Cananeia and Ubatuba research Stations, both near the Tropic of Capricorn, should allow to locally estimate the values of almost all basic components of the sea level over the Brazilian Southeastern area and perhaps also of the whole South Atlantic, allowing for quantitative studies on their composition, long term variability and their climatic influence.