Abstract
ABSTRACT This study analyzes hydrodynamic aspects of the Guabanara Bay estuarine system, which is in the southern coast of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Hydrodynamic circulation patterns were characterized, with and without the influence of baroclinic pressure gradients due to water density differences. Typical summer and winter scenarios are considered. The evaluation adopted computational simulations of hydrodynamic circulation, using models from the environmental hydrodynamic base system, entitled SisBaHiA. The simulations indicate that by disregarding baroclinic effects in the pressure gradients, the mean water levels in the Guanabara Bay are underestimated up to 5 centimeters, depending on the region and season of year. However, the hydrodynamic circulation patterns with or without baroclinic pressure gradients are very similar, as shown by the circulation patterns maps in different tidal phases.
Highlights
An estuary is a coastal body of water with free connection to the sea, within which there is a measurable mixture of freshwater from the hydrographic basin with seawater and extending upstream up to the tidal influence limit (DYER, 1997)
In view of the above, this study aims to analyze the influence of the horizontal baroclinic pressure gradient on the variation of the mean water levels and the circulation pattern of the estuarine system of Guanabara Bay, considering typical scenarios of summer and winter
The tidal wave in the bay tends to be of stationary type, in moments of high water (HW) and Low water (LW) the current velocities tend to their smallest values, close to zero
Summary
An estuary is a coastal body of water with free connection to the sea, within which there is a measurable mixture of freshwater from the hydrographic basin with seawater and extending upstream up to the tidal influence limit (DYER, 1997). An estuarine system constitutes a set of estuaries that flow into a larger system, like a bay or a lagoon, such as Guanabara Bay (GB), into which several rivers outflow. These environments are extremely dynamic and have large amounts of available nutrients, enhancing a rich biodiversity. The Guanabara Bay is in the metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro. It has a maximum extension of about 28 km in the direction E-W and of little more than 30 km in the direction N-S, covering an area of approximately 450 km including several islands. That indicates a strong tendency to a vertically homogeneous estuarine system (DYER, 1997)
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