The experimental survey area lies west of Hondeklip Bay, off the west coast of South Africa, near the edge of the continental shelf at approximately 480 m depth. The site consists of 15 x 6 km trawl lanes.

Lake Kitaura is typical eutrophic lake in Japan. The maximum and average depth is 10 m and 4.5 m, respectively.

Kominato JaLTER site locate along the Pacific coast of Chiba Prefecture, Central Honshu. Intertidal and subtidal rocky shores in front of Marine Biosystems Research Center, Chiba University are main habitat types of this site, which has been registered for marine protected area for scientific research.

The Mar Piccolo is an inner, semi-enclosed sea located on the North of the town of Taranto showing lagoon features. It has a surface area of 20.72 Km2 and is divided by two promontories of land into two smaller inlets, called the First and the Second Inlet, which have a maximum depth of 12 and 8 m, respectively. Two canals, Navigable Canal (width 58 m, depth 12 m) and Porta Napoli Channel (width 48 m, depth 2.5 m), the most important for the water exchange, put the Mar Piccolo in communication with the nearby Mar Grande basin. The scarce hydrodinamism and the reduced water exchange, mainly in the Second Inlet, with the nearby Mar Grande determine the stratification of the water, especially in summer. Due to the strong anthropogenic impact, most of hard substrata are artificial. Soft substrata are sandy near the shore and muddy in the central zone of both Inlets. In the Mar Piccolo basin, tidal range is reduced, not exceeding 30-40 cm. Chemical-physical features of the basin, deeply studied in the last years, show a variable trend according to the seasons and to the Inlets. The two basins are characterized by different levels of confinement. Such a confinement is evident for chemichal-physical variables and let to immediately single out the two basins, as the variables values change moving from the First Inlet to the Second Inlet. Always along the same direction, besides the confinement, an evident increase of all the variables fluctuations is observable which points out a noticeable instability of the most confined basin. The lagoon features of the Mar Piccolo are mainly due to the presence of 34 submarine freshwater springs (locally called "Citri") of which 20 are in the First Inlet and 14 in the Second Inlet . The most important are “Galeso” (mean flow 600 L s-1) and “Citrello” (mean flow 350 L s-1) in the First Inlet and “Le Copre” (mean flow 80 L s-1) in the Second Inlet. The freshwater of the “Citri” has a uniform temperature of 18°C; therefore, they locally affect both the salinity and the temperature of seawater. Moreover, in the Mar Piccolo several small tributary rivers flow, of which the most important is “Galeso” (mean flow 50,000 m3day-1) in the First Inlet; other small rivers, less important because their flow is strongly affected by the seasons, are “Cervaro”, “Rasca” and “Rubafemmine” in the Second Inlet. Salinity ranges from 34.3 to 37.7. Seawater temperature ranges from 7.1°C to 33.6°C. Since the Mar Piccolo is an enclosed and therefore sheltered basin, it has been using for human activities for a long time. Indeed, it houses the biggest mussel farm in Italy with plants widely distributed in both the Inlets, which has a production of about 30,000 tons year-1 and employs about 800 people. Until few years ago, the most important Italian Navy base was located in the First Inlet of which only the dry-docks are still present. In addition, a small fishing fleet, of about 300 boats, is present in the First Inlet. The water-scooping machine of the steel industry catches seawater from the basin for the cooling plants. Moreover, the Mar Piccolo is subject to agricultural pollution because the irrigating waters of the surrounding fields flow into the basin by both the rivers and the submarine freshwater springs. Up to 2000, also 14 urban sewage outfalls flowed into the basin coming from some small cities near Taranto. Starting from this year, the outfalls of 11 of these were closed since their seawage pipes were connected to Bellavista depuration plant flowing outside the Mar Grande basin; currently, only 5 seawage outfalls (1 in the First Inlet and 4 in the Second Inlet) till flow into the basin. Therefore, the discharging of waste waters in the basin has noticeably been reduced.

Lake Engure drainage area (644 sq.km) includes the Lake which is a remnant of Litorina sea formed about 4000 years ago. Part of the territory is the Lake Engure Nature Park, the Ramsar site including unique inland and marine wetlands. Most of the drainage area is covered by pine forests, but there are also large areas of marshlands, meadows, deciduous forests, dunes and agricultural lands. Avifauna lists 186 species, vascular plants – 844 species. 44 species of birds, 5 fish species and 3 plant species are protected at European level, 23 habitats are in EU Habitat Directive. The ecosystems of the area have been changed by different human activities historically well documented. The most important activities in ancient times included regulation of water level, hay making, pasturing, hunting, and fishery. The traditional settlement type was the former fishermen's village, which is characterized by its linear structure along the seashore and farmsteads inland. During the past decade, such settlements have been subject to a wave of summer cottage, second home and guest house construction. The agriculture and main industry (fishing and fish processing) has sharply declined. Nowadays, the highest number of employees is in the service sector (wholesale, catering, tourism and leisure industries). It sets a new kind of pressure to the ecosystems of the region.

UK Upland Waters Monitoring Network (UK UWMN) site. Loch Coire Fionnaraich has a catchment of 550 ha, with a range of elevation from 236 m at the outflow to 933 m at the summit of Maol Chean-dearg. Whilst a band of Cambrian basal quartzite and "Pipe Rock" crosses beneath the northern side of the loch, the catchment geology is mostly made up of Torridonian sandstones from the Applecross and Aultbea groups. Catchment soils consist of peats and peaty podsols alongside extensive areas of exposed rock. Vegetation is dominated by Molinia and Calluna and the catchment is treeless. The surrounding moorland is managed for red deer and low numbers of feral goats are also present. A popular hiking path passes along the western shore of the loch. There are a number of very small lochans and pools on the catchment's northern boundary and one more in the north-west.

UK Upland Waters Monitoring Network (UK UWMN) site. Loch Chon is a relatively large (surface area 105.7 ha) lake lying at an altitude of 92 m in the Trossachs region of central Scotland. The loch is fed by several small streams and drains to the south via Loch Ard and the River Forth. The loch has two main basins, with the deepest area (25 m) represented by a trench near the western shore. The bathymetry was first surveyed by Murray and Pullar in 1910. Some data managed by UK ECN Data Centre. Note: The area is the size of the catchment. The lake area is 106 ha

The Santa Barbara Coastal Long Term Ecological Research (SBC LTER) site is an interdisciplinary program established in 2000 to understand the ecology of coastal kelp forest ecosystems. Our research is focused on the nearshore waters of southern California, where ocean currents and climate are highly variable with season and longer-term cycles, including the El Niño-Southern Oscillation and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. SBC’s principal study domain is a 10,000 square kilometer area of the northern portion of the Southern California Bight that includes the Santa Barbara Channel and the steep coastal watersheds, small estuaries and sandy beaches that border the Channel.

UK Upland Waters Monitoring Network (UK UWMN) site. Named Lochan a' Cheaird on historic maps, Loch Tinker lies at 418 m altitude and drains an adjacent catchment to the east of Loch Chon in the Trossachs region of central Scotland. The loch receives drainage from seepage through the catchment blanket peats and from the steep slopes to the south and east, although the main stream in this area is naturally captured just a few metres downstream of the loch outflow. The loch drains to the north east via the Allt Glasahoile which falls steeply to Loch Katrine. The loch (surface area 11.1 ha) has an irregular shoreline and the generally shallow (mean depth 3.5 m) bathymetry includes two distinct sub-basins reaching a maximum depth of 9.8 m. Three small islands are located towards the southern end of the loch. Some data managed by UK ECN Data Centre. Note: The area is the size of the catchment.

UK Upland Waters Monitoring Network (UK UWMN) site. The site lies at 298 m altitude in the Galloway region of south-west Scotland. The loch is 12.7 ha in area and receives drainage from minor streams and catchment blanket peats. The outflow drains to the south-west into the Glenhead Burn and Loch Trool. The loch bathymetry indicates a single deep basin (maximum depth 13.5 m) offset to the south with slopes rising gently away from the southern shore. An island is located just off the western shore some 250 m from the outflow. Some data are managed by UK ECN Data Centre. Note: The area is the size of the catchment.