Download full issue - PanamJAS

Long-term mean sea level measurements along the Brazilian coast337the previous section. Unfortunately, the majority (ifnot all) of the tide gauges, once active, are either notoperational or have been destroyed. An exception isthe Cananéia station, where the time-series is morethan 50 years long. According to Pirazzoli (1986),who analyzed the data of long-term variations ofMSL measurement from a data set available in thePermanente Mean Sea Level Institute (PMSLI), therate of variation of the MSL followed a period of 20years. Hence, the studies on long-term tendencyshould have at least 50 years of data.Presently, according to their own needs forsuch information, universities, private institutions(industries), and public institutions or agencies (e.g.,IBGE, INPE – Space Research National Institute,CHM – Navy Hydrographic Center) are (or arestarting to) conducting long-term in situ sea levelmeasurements. As a result, the effort of measuringsea level seems to be pulverized and uncoordinated,and it is not uncommon to observe gaps ordiscontinuity in the sea level time-series. Table IIIpresents the active or planned (yet to install) tidegauges along the Brazilian coast and oceanic islands,and Figure 3 shows their spatial distribution. It isimportant to point out that a majority of the alreadyactivestations shown in Figure 3 have not beenplanned for sea level change studies owing toclimate change.Table III. GLOSS-Brazil stations (Global Sea Level Observing System). Adapted from CHN (2009). Stations markedby * are part of the PTNG program.ExpectedStation Responsible SituationObservationssituation in 2010Rio Grande (Rio Grandedo Sul)FURG-CHM To be installed Yet to be installed Radar tide gauge*Imbituba (Santa Catarina) IBGE Operating OperationalPressure tide gauge since 2001,CGPS from Dec 2006Cananéia (Santa Catarina) IOUSP Operating Operational Radar tide gaugeIlha Fiscal (Rio de Janeiro) CHM Operating Operational*Macaé (Rio de Janeiro) IBGE Operating OperationalBarra do Riacho (EspíritoSanto) / Transfering toVitória (Espírito Santo)*Salvador (Bahia)*Fortaleza (Ceará)Ponta da Madeira(Maranhão)Ilha da Trindade (EspíritoSanto)Fernando de Noronha(Pernambuco)Arquipélago de São Pedroe São Paulo (Rio Grandedo Norte)PORTOCEL/VALEIBGE (CHM)IBGEValeRadar tide gauge, conventionaltide gauge (backup)Pressure tide gauge, since July2001, no CGPS stationUnder test Operational Pressure tide gaugeOperating(underevaluation)Operating(underevaluation)OperatingOperationalOperationalOperational nearreal-timeautomatic datatransmissionINPE-CHM To be installed Under evaluationINPE-CHM To be installed Under evaluationINPE-CHMInstalled in2008 (undertest)Operational*Santana (Pará) IBGE Operating OperationalRadar tide gauge since Apr 2008;CGPS from Apr 2007; datatransmitting in real time throughsatelliteRadar tide gauge since Apr 2008;CGPS from Oct 2008; datatransmitting in real time throughsatelliteConventional tide gauge, radar tobe installedRadar tide gauge to be installed in2010Radar tide gauge to be installed in2010Radar tide gauge; datatransmitting in real-time throughsatelliteRadar tide gauge since Dec 2007;CGPS from July 2008Pan-American Journal of Aquatic Sciences (2010), 5(2): 331-340