Cover design: J. Carranza Photos (from left to right and top to bottom) courtesy of : 1) I. Frutos; 2) I. Frutos; 3) J.L. Cort; 4) J. Carranza; 5) ECOMARG project; 6) F. Sánchez; 7) J.M. Salinas; 8) A. Lavín et al.; 9) C. Fernández-Pato et al. XIII International Symposium on Oceanography of the Bay of Biscay. ISOBAY 13. Santander, SPAIN. 11–13 April 2012 XIII Symposium on Oceanography of the Bay of Biscay ISOBAY 13 11–13 April 2012. Santander, SPAIN. XIII International Symposium on Oceanography of the Bay of Biscay. ISOBAY 13. Santander, SPAIN. 11–13 April 2012 XIII International Symposium on Oceanography of the Bay of Biscay. ISOBAY 13. Santander, SPAIN. 11–13 April 2012 WELCOME TO ISOBAY 13 The Bay of Biscay is an area of the Atlantic Ocean enclosed by the Galician coast (NW Spain) and the Brittany coast (N France), with an extension almost half of the Iberian Peninsula and with a high proportion of the Spanish and French population living within less than 60 km from its coasts. As in all fields of the marine environment, it is subject to human pressures such as chronic pollution or accidental caused by maritime disasters, overfishing, alteration of marine habitats and the irrefutable consequences of climate change. However, from Brest to Vigo there is a large number of scientific institutions and organizations, distributed along this geographical environment, which are exploring and studying different aspects of its oceanographic phenomena: physical, chemical and biological, its flora and fauna, their ecosystems and resources. In summary this scientific potential allows to keep on investigating in all these disciplines for a better management of the functioning of coastal and deep water ecosystems in the Bay of Biscay. In order to link all the multidisciplinary studies that come out from these research Centers, the International Symposium on Oceanography of the Bay of Biscay, ISOBAY, began 25 years ago in the University of Oviedo, and since then with a periodicity "biannual" has made this event 12 times (until 2010). Each time in one of the populations of the Bay of Biscay, on the Spanish side and in the French side, in such a way that the edition of the Congress is changing alternatively. Between 11 and 13 April 2012 the 13th ISOBAY edition will take place in Santander, organized by the Spanish Institute of Oceanography of Santander (IEO), with the collaboration of the Cantabrian University (UC), the Foundation of the Environmental Hydraulics Institute of Cantabria (IH) and the Cantabrian Maritime Museum (MMC). In these conferences one of the main objectives is to highlight the progress made in the various disciplines of Oceanography in the Bay of Biscay, which benefits the debate between scientists and allows to give a global picture of the state of the marine ecosystem in this geographical area. As an example of how the scientific advances are incorporated, the main subject of the recent International Simposia of the Bay of Biscay has been shifting following the approach of marine science progress: ISOBAY 9 (Vigo 2002): Movement and transport: Prestige; ISOBAY 10 (Pau 2004): Assessment of the impacts on ecosystems; ISOBAY11 (San Sebastián 2006): Management of the biodiversity; ISOBAY12: (Brest 2012): Global changes (climate change). The main subject on this edition of ISOBAY13 will be "The conservation and sustainability of marine resources in the Bay of Biscay", since from now on it is more necessary to manage the ecosystem following the ecosystem approach. The scientific program of the symposium will include the following topics: 1) Geology, sedimentation and erosion; 2) Physical oceanography; 3) Dynamics of nutrients and plankton; 4) Biological diversity and ecosystems; 5) Fisheres and aquaculture; and 6) Anthropogenic impacts: pollution, biological indicators, environmental changes. We would like to point out that we have contacted the International Journal ISI "Deep Sea Research II" which has accepted, without any cost, to publish a special issue with the best manuscripts presented at the Symposium. The Organizing Committee of ISOBAY 13 - 3 - XIII International Symposium on Oceanography of the Bay of Biscay. ISOBAY 13. Santander, SPAIN. 11–13 April 2012 Organizing Committee Ignacio Olaso (IEO, Santander) Pablo Abaunza (IEO, Santander) Izaskun Preciado (IEO, Santander) Cristina Rodríguez-Cabello (IEO, Santander) Inmaculada Frutos (IEO, Santander) Jesús Carranza (IEO, Santander) Gerardo García-Castrillo (MMC, Santander) Carlos Pérez-Labajos (UC, Santander) Jean Claude Sorbe (CNRS, Arcachon) Raúl Medina (IH Cantabria, Santander) Scientific Committe Ignacio Olaso (IEO, Santander) Pablo Abaunza (IEO, Santander) Juan Acosta (IEO, Madrid) Hervé Gillet (Université Bordeaux 1, Talence) Moncho Gómez-Gesteira (Universidad Vigo, Orense) Bernard Le Cann (Université Brest, Brest) Ricardo Prego (CSIC, Vigo) Gérard Thouzeau (Université Brest, Brest) Jean Claude Sorbe (CNRS, Arcachon) Francisco Sánchez (IEO, Santander) Ángel Borja (AZTI-Tecnalia, Pasaia) Guy Bachelet (CNRS, Arcachon) Francisco Velasco (IEO, Santander) Pierre Petitgas (IFREMER, Nantes) Olivier Le Pape (Agrocampus Ouest, Rennes) José Ignacio Saiz-Salinas (Universidad País Vasco, Bilbao) Pierre Anschutz (Université Bordeaux 1, Talence) Sonia Castanedo (IH Cantabria, Santander) Carlos García-Soto (IEO, Santander) - 4 - XIII International Symposium on Oceanography of the Bay of Biscay. ISOBAY 13. Santander, SPAIN. 11–13 April 2012 ISOBAY 13 PROGRAMME Tuesday, 10th April 18:00 – 20:00 Registration at the Museo Marítimo del Cantábrico (MMC). Welcome and refreshments at the Museum. Wednesday, 11th April 9:00 Registration 9:30 Opening ceremony 10:00 Aperture talk: Ocean Sciences in the Bay of Biscay: recent achievements, current challenges and new opportunities. Luis Valdés. 11:00 Coffe break Oral Session, Topic 1: Geology, sedimentation and erosion (chairs: Juan Acosta & Hervé Gillet). 11:20 G. Ercilla. Morphosedimentary features and recent depositional arquitectural model of the Cantabrian continental margin and Biscay abyssal plain. 11:40 J. Iglesias. Quaternary seismic stratigraphy of the deep depositional systems in the Cantabrian margin. 12:00 S. Brocheray. Morphobathymetric analyses and recent sedimentary processes of the turbiditic system of the Capbreton submarine Canyon (Sargass Cruise 2010). 12:20 A. Mazières. Relationship between littoral drift Aquitaine and the head of the canyon of Capbreton: descriptive and numerical approaches. 12:40 J. Larreta. Metal contamination in estuarine sediments of the Basque country (Bay of Biscay): improving quality 10 years later. Oral Session, Topic 2: Physical Oceanography (chairs: Moncho Gómez-Gesteira & Alicia Lavín). 13:00 F. Gouillon. Mixed layer dynamics in the Bay of Biscay. 13:20 Lunch 15:00 F. Santos. Trends in ENACW calculated over the period 1975–2006 in the Bay of Biscay. 15:20 L. Solabarrieta. Surface circulation patterns in the southeastern Bay of Biscay obtained from HF radar data. 15:40 A. Le Boyer. Seasonal horizontal transport on the shelf and upper slope of the Bay of Biscay from July 2009 to August 2011. 16:00 N. Ayoub. Ocean response to winter storms in the Bay of Biscay: sensitivity to atmospheric forcing. 16:20 M. Ruiz-Villarreal. On the variability and forcing of the poleward slope current in the Bay of Biscay. 16:40 Coffe break 17:00 I. Laiz. Effect of river runoff on sea level from in-situ measurements and numerical models: the Bay of Biscay. - 5 - XIII International Symposium on Oceanography of the Bay of Biscay. ISOBAY 13. Santander, SPAIN. 11–13 April 2012 17:20 A. Caballero. Altimetric data and ocean model estimations for monitoring mesoscale activity within the Bay of Biscay. 17:40 M. Álvarez. Evolution of oxygen profiles from Argo data in the Bay of Biscay, 2009–2012. 18:00 V. Valencia. Trends and anomalies of salinity in the upper waters masses of the southeastern Bay of Biscay during the last three decades. Oral Session, Topic 3: Plankton and nutrients dynamics (chairs: Ignacio Olaso & Jean Claude Sorbe). 18:20 M. Chifflet. Towards an End-to-End model for the Bay of Biscay. 18:40 C. Charbonnier. In situ seasonal monitoring of dissolved oxygen in sandy beach. 19:00 End of the day Thursday, 12th April 9:00 D. Smythe-Wright. Biological regimes in the Bay of Biscay and English Channel. 9:20 P. Morin. Biological production of volatile halogenated organic compounds in coastal waters of Bay of Biscay. 9:40 E. Nogueira. Short-term dynamics of an upwelling-relaxation event and its consequences on coastal plankton communities (central Cantabrian Sea). 10:00 P. Vandromme. Spatial and vertical distribution of springtime zooplankton over the western European shelf and slope from Galician coast to Ushant front. Oral Session, Topic 4: Biological diversity and ecosystems (chairs: Fco. Sánchez & Guy Bachelet). 10:20 A. Brind’Amour. Functional diversity on the nursery habitats of the Bay of Biscay: a methodological framework. 10:40 G. Chust. Estuarine connectivity: assessing species vulnerability to global change. 11:00 Coffe break 11:20 E. Ramos. Ecological classification of rocky shores at a regional scale based on coastal physical attributes. 11:40 B. Gutiérrez-Cobo. Recruitment and growth of Pollicipes pollicipes on the coast of Cantabria (Gulf of Biscay, N Spain). Considerations for management. 12:00 M. Lucia. Distribution pattern of the intertidal macrobenthic communities in the Gironde Estuary (France): abundance, diversity, biomass and structuring factors. 12:20 A. Chaalali. Zooplankton and fish species variability in the Gironde Estuary under the influence of large-scale climate variability. 12:40 A. De Ugarte. Adding value to historical underwater video data for the study of subtidal macroalgae communities. 13:00 J. García. Hydrologic variability in the southeastern Bay of Biscay over the Holocene. 13:20 Lunch 15:00 I. Galparsoro. Mapping European seabed habitats in the Atlantic area for a better management. 15:20 A. García-Alegre. Modelling and mapping the local distribution of communities and species of special interest on Le Danois Bank (El Cachucho MPA). 15:40 A. Lourido. A comparative study of the macrobenthic infauna of two bathyal Cantabrian Sea areas: Le Danois Bank and the Avilés Canyon.