PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF THE OUTER SECTOR OF GUARATUBA BAY, PARANÁ COAST, FACING ANTHROPIC AND METEOCEANOGRAPHIC CHANGES

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.22533/at.ed.8135425100711

• Palavras-chave: .

• Keywords: seawater parameters, SWAO, coastal monitoring, conservation.

• Abstract: Estuaries are transitional ecosystems where rivers meet the ocean, and in these areas long-term abiotic monitoring, both limnological and oceanographic, is essential. Guaratuba Bay (BG), located between two estuarine complexes that house ports in southern Brazil (Paranaguá -Paraná, and Babitonga -Santa Catarina), unlike these, has a scarcity of published abiotic data. Thus, our abiotic profile (2020-2021) provided seasonal data on temperature (seawater surface temperature/SST), salinity, pH, turbidity, and nitrogen and phosphate concentrations in the BG. This is relevant for conservation, because these biomarkers are sentinels of the evolution of agricultural activities and effluent’ trackers, in addition to feed database facing metoceanographic changes. The minimum and maximum SST values of the outer sector of the BG ranged from 18 to 260C in winter (I) and summer (V), respectively.  The average salinity ranged from 16.2 (V) to 27.4 (I) psu. The pH ranged from 6.11 to 7.24, in spring and summer. Turbidity ranged from 19 (I) to 34 (V) NTU. Phosphate concentrations ranged from 0.38 (spring) to 3.5 (summer) mg.L-1, ammonium from 0.12 to 0.45 mg.L-1 in autumn and spring; and nitrate from 0.04 to 0.53 mg.L-1 in autumn and summer. A novel approach and discussion of the observed differences in measured abiotic parameters was conducted, considering the northern and southern faces of the outer sector of the BG, i.é., the ferry berths in Caiobá and Guaratuba, respectively. Finally, this contribution compared some primordial differences in the physical and chemical profiles of Paranaguá Bay and BG, and over the past decades, suggesting that continuous monitoring of BG is highly recommended, aiming to track and mitigate the current impacts and safeguard the ecosystem services provided by this estuary, which has been neglected in terms of limnoceanographic data.