Abstract
The Patos-Mirim is the largest coastal limnological system of the world, located in southern Brazil and eastern Uruguay, which encompass over 500 km of coastline. The economical demand for the development of an international waterway brings the need for understanding the Mirim lagoon dynamics and ulterior discharge into Patos lagoon in view of establishing navigation conditions and sustainable development. In this sense, circulation and freshwater discharge dynamics were assessed by running the numerical model TELEMAC-3D for a one-year-long simulation. The model identified the wind direction and intensity as the main combined forcing modulating water circulation and transport between the northern and southern portions and conditioning the recirculation cell orientation. Predominant winds from the S-SW directions could generate adverse conditions for navigation because they would yield low water levels under northwards water transport, thus creating shallow regions for navigation. Under such conditions, the high freshwater discharge coming from the Mirim lagoon would be restricted, and the communication to the Patos lagoon would be sufficiently weakened to prevent navigation activities. Therefore, we recommend that the viability of planning and implementing an international waterway, involving the two countries (Brazil and Uruguay), must take into account wind conditions prior to setting navigation traffic and avoid economic losses.
Highlights
The majority of the world’s population lives in coastal areas
It is possible to accomplish a as it allows high spatio-temporal resolution for studying the Mirim lagoon hydrodynamics and its associated exchanges with the Patos lagoon
These results showed high discharge rates occurring during the autumn and winter period, which did increase the Mirim lagoon water level by 3 m
Summary
The majority of the world’s population lives in coastal areas. Because of the economic potential and international exchanges, coastal environment margins (estuaries, lagoons, bays) are densely populated and are susceptible to urban activities, such as leisure, fishing, industry, and harbor/navigation operations. Coastal lagoons are commonly observed within the coastal environment, covering 13% of the world’s coastal areas [4] They are transitional areas between the continents and the oceans and are influenced by strong winds blowing over long fetch distances [5,6]. They are usually set parallel to the shoreline and are separated from the ocean by a sand bar and connected to the sea (at least temporarily) by one or more, either intermittent or permanent, inlets [7]
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