Dinâmica de um canal estuarino fracamente estratificado

• Autor(a) principal: Silva, Fernanda Nascimento de Paula e
• Data de Publicação: 2014
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo (riUfes)
• Texto Completo: http://repositorio.ufes.br/handle/10/2015
• topic: Estuários; Marés; Piraquê-Açú, Rio (ES); Piraquê-Mirim, Rio (ES); Sistema estuarino Piraquê-Açu e Piraquê-Mirim; Ciências Ambientais; 55

The aim of this study is to describe spatial structures of tidal and subtidal flows in an estuarine channel under different hydrologic and tidal conditions. Estuaries are regions with major economic, environmental and social importance. Therefore, knowing the patterns of circulation in them is essential, especially because they are responsible for controlling biogeochemical environmental standards. Even though estuarine hydrodynamics have been studied under different oceanographic conditions, regions like estuarine system Piraquê-açu Piraquê-mirim (SEPAPM) are still unknown, making important to investigate which are the dominant factors that influence these environment. SEPAPM has well marked hydrological seasonality, weak vertical stratification, semidiurnal tides and a bathymetry with a deep channel followed by a plateau of? approximately 50% of the channel depth and 5 times wider. Therefore, a cross-channel estuarine dynamics were analyzed, seeking to determinate the tidal and subtidal flows as well as the bathymetry, wind and river discharge influence. In the estuary were analyzed: (i) the spatial and temporal structures of temperature, salinity and density, (ii) tidal flow, and ( iii ) both longitudinal (W-E) and transverse (N-S) subtidal flow. We used data collected in 2010 during two distinct seasons (wet and dry) in each tide period (neap and spring). It was determinate that this part of the estuary is weakly stratified, vertically and horizontally, and the tidal straining process is dominant for the stratification process in all sampling periods. The semidiurnal tidal amplitude and phase had a homogeneously pattern at the profile, although in the presence of high amplitude current it may occur horizontal shearing with the greatest amplitudes in the channel. The residual flow showed a clear pattern of gravitational circulation, even under different conditions. Nevertheless, over the sampling periods, the residual flow was dominated by friction in the dry season and the topography in the rainy season. The residual flux founded for spring dry was considered atypical and caused due to weather conditions. Finally, the lateral flow showed greater variation in different seasons, with opposite patterns, a counterclockwise gyre in the dry and a clockwise gyre in the wet. The sediment transport was also inverse in both seasons, occurring import of sediment during the dry season and export during the wet season, probably related to lateral flow.