PELD Site / Brazil’s Semi-Arid Coast
Among the main environmental changes observed in semi-arid coastal ecosystems, the following processes stand out:
a) decrease in rainfall due to global changes;
b) advance of dunes in the estuaries;
c) the occurrence of extreme events, such as heatwaves, an increase in temperature in the equatorial region, intense and frequent droughts, and an annual rainfall reduction;
d) the erosion of mangroves in the bands close to the beaches and the expansion of mangroves inland;
e) alteration of biogeochemical processes;
f) silting and closing of sandy bars;
g) the longest water residence time, hypersalinity (> 37), the advance of saline intrusion in shallow estuaries;
h) rising sea levels;
i) the multiple busbars of the rivers, with future tendencies for the appearance of estuarine-lagoon systems with high salinity and effects on multiple scales and trophic levels.
