Otimizamos um procedimento para a detreminação de zinco em água do mar usando voltametria de redissolução de onda quadrada (SWAdsV) com 8-hidroxiquinolina (oxina) como adsorvente e agente complexante. Inicialmente um estudo univariante da corrente máxima do complexo Zn-Ox em função do pH foi feito para obter os valores adequados de corrente. Posteriormente as condições experimentais foram selecionadas usando um planejamento multivariado experimental. Variaveis como pH, concentração de oxina (C ox ), tempo (t ads ) e potencial (E ads ) de adsorção foram otimizados. O primeiro passo de otmimização foi um planejamento fatorial de 2 4 com 16 medidas, usando valores altos e baixos e tres medidas no ponto central (10.0 µg L -1 Zn(II)). Analises de variança mostraram que o pH e a C ox foram os fatores mais significantes, enquanto t ads e E ads não foram significativos, sendo mantidos constantes nos experimentos seguintes. Para encontrar então os valores ótimos de pH e C ox um planejamento fatorial de 2 2+* foi usado. Os melhores paramentros experimentais foram pH 6,0; C ox 25 mmol L ) com resultados satisfatórios. O método pode ser aplicado para a determinação de zinco II em água do mar, sem tratamento prévio.A procedure for the determination of zinc in sea water by square wave adsorptive stripping voltammetry (SWAdSV) using 8-hydroxyquinoline (oxine) as an adsorbing and complexing agent has been optimized. First, a univariate study of the Zn-Ox complex peak current as a function of pH was carried out choosing values at which adequate currents were obtained. Then, selection of the experimental conditions was made using a multivariate experimental design. Variables like pH, oxine concentration (C ox ), adsorption time (t ads ) and adsorption potential (E ads ) were optimized. The first optimization step was a 2 4 factorial design with 16 measurements made choosing high and low levels, and three measurements at the central point (Zn(II) 10.0 µg L -1 ). Analysis of variance showed that pH and C ox were the most significant factors, while t ads and E ads were not significant and were kept constant in later measurements. Next, to find the optimum values for pH and C ox a 2 2 + star factorial design was used. The best experimental parameters were pH = 6.0; C ox = 25 µmol L -1 ; t ads = 10 s and E ads = -0.70 V. Under these conditions the peak current was proportional to the concentration of zinc over the 0.1-48.0 µg L -1 range, with a detection limit of 0.05 µg L -1. Reproducibility for 5.0 µg mL -1 Zn(II) solution was 1.9 % (n = 16). The method was validated using spiked synthetic sea water (ASTM D665), sea water reference material (CRM-SW. Zn 5 µg kg -1 ) and fortified water reference material (GBW08607. Zn 5 mg kg -1 ) with satisfactory results. Finally, the method was successfully applied to the determination of Zn(II) in sea water samples without prior treatment.