[en] Submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) is now recognized as an important pathway between land and sea. As such, this flow may contribute to the biogeochemical and other marine budgets of nearshore waters. These discharges typically display significant spatial and temporal variability, making direct assessments difficult. Groundwater seepage is patchy, diffuse, temporally variable, and may involve multiple aquifers. Thus, the measurement of its magnitude and associated chemical fluxes is a challenging enterprise. An initiative on SGD characterization was developed by the IAEA and UNESCO in 2000 as a 5-year plan to assess methodologies and importance of SGD for coastal zone management. The IAEA component included a Coordinated Research Project (CRP) on Nuclear and Isotopic Techniques for the Characterization of Submarine Groundwater Discharge (SGD) in Coastal Zones, carried out jointly by the IAEA's Isotope Hydrology Section in Vienna and the Marine Environment Laboratory in Monaco, together with 9 laboratories from 8 countries. In addition to the IAEA, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) and the International Hydrological Programme (IHP) have provided support. This overall effort originally grew from a project sponsored by the Scientific Committee on Ocean Research (SCOR) who established a Working Group (112) on SGD. The activities included joint meetings (Vienna 2000, 2002, and 2005; Syracuse, Italy, 2001; and Monaco 2004), sampling expeditions (Australia 2000; Sicily 2001 and 2002; New York 2002; Brazil 2003; and Mauritius 2005), joint analytical work, data evaluation, and preparation of joint publications. The objectives of the CRP included the improvement of capabilities for water resources and environmental management of coastal zones; application of recently developed nuclear and isotopic techniques suitable for quantitative estimation of various components of SGD; understanding of the influence of SGD on coastal processes and on groundwater regimes; a better management of groundwater resources in coastal areas; and development of numerical models of SGD. This report examines several methodologies of SGD assessment, which were carried out during a series of five intercomparison experiments in different hydrogeological environments (coastal plains, karst, glacial till, fractured crystalline rocks and volcanic terrains). This report reviews the scientific and management significance of SGD, measurement approaches, and the results of the intercomparison experiments. We conclude that while SGD is essentially ubiquitous in coastal areas, the assessment of its magnitude at any one location is subject to enough variability that measurements should be made by a variety of techniques and over large enough spatial and temporal scales to capture the majority of these variable conditions