Modeling the Paranagua Estuarine Complex, Brazil: tidal circulation and cotidal charts

Abstract

The tidal circulation in Paranagua Bay (Parana State, Southern Brazil) was studied based on the Princeton Ocean Model. The model domain covered the near shore region and the estuarine area, with about 1 km grid resolution in cross-shore and along-shore directions. Homogeneous and diagnostic distributions for temperature and salinity were used and 12 tidal constituents were considered to specify the elevations at the open boundaries. Tidal analysis of 29-days time series of elevations and currents for each grid point generated corange and cophase lines as well as the correspondent axes of the current ellipses for each constituent. These computed values reproduced well the observed amplifications and phase lags of surface elevations and currents. Residual flows show the formation of tidal eddies, related to coastal geometry and bottom topography.