Special Articles - Ocean and Coastal Research

Environmental variability and hazards on the coastal and
continental shelf regions of South America and the Caribbean

Guest Editors:

Ronald Buss de Souza		Ruy Kenji Papa de Kikuchi
INPE		UFBA
0000-0003-3346-3370		0000-0002-6271-7491

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About this Research Topic

The South and western Tropical Atlantic oceans are known to play important roles in the seasonal and larger scales climate variability of South and Central America. At the same time, the effects of the crescent anthropogenic influence in the coastal seas and transitional environments through marine pollution and urban expansion are poorly studied, although deeply impacting coastal populations. Recent episodes of continental and coastal disasters, including large oil spill events off the coast of northeastern Brazil and in the Gulf of Mexico, for example, express the need for a better understanding of these environments and the continuous threats to marine life there. Climate variability and change also directly affect the coastal regions. In the tropics, for instance, the combined, interbasin connections between the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans during both positive (El Niño) and negative (La Niña) phases of the El Niño – Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomena, force remote positive or negative precipitation anomalies far beyond coastal regions in the Americas and worldwide.

In the subtropical South Atlantic, sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTA) occurring on the continental shelf have a direct impact on the fish recruitment and consequently in subsequent captures of pelagic fish, impacting the economy of fisheries communities and industry. In association with SSTA and other oceanic mesoscale phenomena, the ocean-atmosphere coupling processes are the major forcing mechanisms for surface wind and (heat, momentum, and gases) air-sea fluxes that may impact coastal regions in both South and Central America. Heat waves, atmospheric blocking, cyclogenesis of both extra-tropical and tropical (hurricanes) cyclones, and storm surges are some of the known hazards affecting the coastal regions with an origin at the sea. Most of these phenomena, at short to long time periods, impact the coastal environment through coastal erosion. At longer time scales, the known impacts of climate change affect the World Ocean through sea level rise and ocean acidification, imposing new threats to coral reefs and transitional environments such as estuaries, salt marshes, mangroves, and others. Overall, we need to have a better understanding of how all these processes occurring on the South and western Tropical Atlantic oceans at different spatial and temporal scales affect the coastal and continental shelf regions.

The objective of this special issue is to improve our understanding of the physical, biological, chemical, geological, and biogeochemical processes of the coastal regions surrounding both the South and western Tropical Atlantic oceans.

We welcome contributions on, but not limited to, the following topics:

• • Observational, modeling and remote sensing methods applied to coastal variability;
  • Marine pollution;
  • Ocean-atmosphere-continent interaction processes;
  • Cyclogenesis and hurricanes;
  • Ocean biogeochemical cycles, acidification and deoxygenation;
  • Carbon cycle at coastal and transitional environments;
  • Storm surges and coastal erosion;
  • Coral reef ecology and change due to marine variability;
  • Fisheries change due to marine variability.

The deadline for submission of contributions to this Special Article Collection is August 31^st, 2022.

To submit your contribution, please access the ScholarOne Portal
and select the special volume during the manuscript submission process.

 When submitting your manuscript to a Special Article Collection,
please indicate on the cover letter to what special article collection we must allocate your contribution.

Environmental characteristics and anthropogenic disturbances
in marine Ramsar sites: the Cananéia-Iguape-Peruibe
Marine Protected Area, Southern Brazil

Guest Editors:

Elisabete de Santis Braga		Juliana de Souza Azevedo		Joseph Harari		Carmen Gonsalez Castro
USP		UNIFESP		USP		IIM-Vigo
0000-0001-5780-3814		0000-0002-8231-9669		0000-0002-7094-4504		0000-0001-7415-078X

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About this Research Topic

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are critically important to preserve species and maintain ecosystem dynamics. However, such conservation units are constantly subject to the input of chemical compounds and other anthropogenic impacts, which can change natural processes and promote adverse effects on living organisms.

Although there are 27 Ramsar sites (priority areas for international conservation) in Brazil, few are in marine ecosystems. The Cananéia-Iguape estuarine-lagoon complex (CIELC) integrates the Cananéia-Iguape-Peruíbe environmental protection area as a biosphere reserve (UNESCO), and in 2017 was included on the Ramsar list of wetlands of international importance, and is considered a priority area for conservation. The southern region of the CIELC is relatively well preserved, but the northern sections receive anthropogenic inputs from Ribeira de Iguape river outflow via Valo Grande (an artificial channel).

This special article collection will bring together contributions aiming to promote a more complete understanding of ecosystem processes in this important coastal wetland, providing a solid scientific background for conservation actions and policies.

We welcome contributions on, but not limited to, the following topics:

-Local effects of climate changes and modeling in coastal areas;

- Hydrodynamics in the estuarine environment;

- Modeling approaches to investigate changes to global cycles that can predict responses to internal and external forcing on a variety of temporal scales;

- Environmental and ecological bioindicators;

- Coastal and estuarine pollution - biogeochemical processes controlling the behavior, transport, and fate of inorganic and organic compounds;

- Bioavailability and ecotoxicological state of contaminants, and their potential impact on the ecosystem and human health;

- Ecotoxicity and ecological risk, human exposure and health effects, remediation and intervention;

- Biogeochemical cycles of nutrients, micronutrients, and metals, deoxygenation and carbon cycle along salinity gradients and as indicators of the balance of the system (fluxes, distribution, and transport);

- Organic matter dynamics in different compartments and their biotic and abiotic interactions;

- Nutrient and metal distribution and fluxes in relation to interface processes (atmosphere-water-sediments-continent);

- Estuarine and marine geochemistry - geochemical proxies and environmental analysis of modern and past systems;

- Coastal processes, marine erosion, and sedimentation;

- Biodiversity under environmental variation caused by natural and anthropogenic influences;

- Socio-environmental relations – drivers of environmental changes and resilience capacity;

-Perspectives and new research horizons.

This special issue is open for submissions until August 31^st, 2022

To submit your contribution, please access the ScholarOne Portal
and select the special volume during the manuscript submission process.

When submitting your manuscript to a Special Article Collection,
please indicate on the cover letter to what special article collection we must allocate your contribution.