CURRENT OBSERVATIONS AND FLOW-TIDE CURVES AT PARANAGUÁ BAY, PR

Abstract

The present work brings information on data surveys of estuarine currents accomplished in the Bay of Paranaguá,PR, Brazil, using electromagnetic current meters (S$) and of the Doppler effect (ADCP and ADP), aswell as the study of the suspended sediments observed in the water column. The comparison of the results of theobserved currents by all the instruments showed that these are very equivalent in this observation type. On theother hand, the water budgets, obtained with a data basis of the acoustic current meters, were compatible withthe tidal prism (tide circulation). Water budget data like these allowed the elaboration of the estuarine equivalentequations for water budget and water level, where when it is known, it is possible to calculate the water budgetin a given estuarine section. The analyses of suspended particulate matter (SPM) were used as well to try tocorrelate SPM with the intensity of the echo of ADCP, being observed that it is possible to use this intensity forestimates of SPM. From the dynamic point of view, the main characteristic observed in the circulation of the Bayof Paranaguá refers to the lateral heterogeneity of the sections. They seemed to be related to residual circulationwhere areas of the section are used mainly by the flood currents, being another for the ebb currents. Thispreferential circulation can explain the different lateral conditions in the channels. In the area of preponderanceof the flood currents, biological and sedimentological conditions are observed with more “marine” characteristics.On ebb areas, the opposite happens with fauna and sediments, as there are less marine and more continental or interior.