In the summer of 1994 (Aug. 15 - 18) about 220 oceanographers and paleoceanographers from Western Europe, the USA, Africa, South America, Russia and Lithuania met at Bremen University to present and discuss the results of recent research on present and past circulation in the South Atlantic. The symposium was organised by Gerold Siedler (University of Kiei) and Gerold Wefer (University of Bremen), assisted by a "Scientific Programme Committee", which included W.H. Berger, K. Herterich, N.G. Hogg, Y. Ikeda, J.H.F. Jansen, J.R.E. Luetjeharms, J. Merle, R.G. Peterson, and DJ. Webb. The local organisation was in the hands of Barbara Donner. A symposium on the South Atlantic seemed timely and appropriate because the results from a number of recent projects in oceanography and marine geosciences needed to be integrated into existing knowl­ edge. Thus, monitoring programs have been in operation since 1991 as part of the World Ocean Circu­ lation Experiment (WOCE). These programs included studies of the meridional water-mass and heat transports, the western boundary currents, and deep- and bottom-water transports in the Brazil Basin. Also comprehensive studies are being carried out in the context ofIGBP Core Projects PAGES (Past Global Changes) and JGOFS (Joint Global Ocean Flux Study), generating new data for the various current and production systems of the South Atlantic.