Dispersão de materiais na região costeira de Fortaleza, CE - Brasil

Abstract

The study of the coastal circulation and the transport and dispersion of waste material and contaminants is important to many areas. In this work, the barotropic version of the Delft3D model is used to understand the effects of winds, tides and waves on the dispersion of waste materials and substances by coastal circulation in state of Ceará. In order to do that, we used simulation with a constructive approach: the first simulation is forced only by tides; in the second simulation, winds are included and finally in the third simulation waves are included. The simulations were performed using wind and summer conditions. In this study we show that the tides are the main forcing of the total variability of the coastal circulation in Fortaleza and the winds are more important to the dispersion of waste materials and substances. The waves shown little influence on the velocity field and on the dispersion patterns. During winter, the currents and dispersion of materials are more intense. We also observed the influence of coastal structures in the current and dispersion fields. We have showed that the Delft 3D model is able to reproduce the circulation in the region and that it can be used in studies of langragean transport. The model can be used as an important tool for the determining the effects of coastal constructions along the edge of Fortaleza.