Long-term observational programme for environmental studies: the case of Bahía Blanca estuary (Argentina)

JORGE MARCOVECCHIO; SANDRA BOTTE; ANDRES ARIAS; CARLA SPETTER; MELISA FERNANDEZ SEVERINI; FEDERICO DELUCCHI; VANESA NEGRIN; NATALIA BUZZI; ANA MARIA MARTINEZ; HUGO FREIJE,

Salvador (Recife)

Congreso; Environmental Health 2001 Conference – Resetting our Priorities; 2011

Bahía Blanca Estuary is a large coastal system located in the south-eastern littoral Province of Buenos Aires, close to northern Patagonia area. It is an anthropogenically impacted system, which includes cities and harbours, industrial conglomerates, dredging operations for navigational purposes, intensive agriculture and livestock production, artisanal fisheries, etc. In this scenario, the development of both oceanographic and environmental studies has been of growing concern ; consequently a long-term observational programme -based on physical-chemical, biological and oceanographical data gathering- has been carried out since 80s and until present, on a fortnightly, monthly or bimonthly basis. The programme includes data collection on water temperature, conductivity / salinity, pH, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, inorganic nutrients (NO2, NO3, NH4, PO4, SiOx), photosynthetic pigments (chlorophyll a, phaeopigments), and several potentially toxic substances (i.e. heavy metals, hydrocarbons, pesticides, etc). Considering this three-decadal analysis it was possible to outline the usual patterns of these parameters within the estuary, and since then, to identify disturbances or anomalies along this period. In addition this database has been an adequate support for numerous multi-disciplinary research studies as well as to produce an updated diagnosis of the environmental condition of the estuary. In the near future, and keeping in mind the topics concerning with global climate change, it is necessary to manage properly this information to highlight its significance not only as a tool for environmental diagnosis but also to forecast potential occurrence of toxicity events within the system.