Do you know how strong are the tidal currents inside Guanabara Bay? Or do you have any idea how much sediment is transported by hydrodynamics on its banks? These are some of the questions that the research group H2O – Hydrodynamics, Hydraulics and Oceanography, from the Department of Agricultural and Environment Engineering from UFF, coordinated by professors André Belém, Rodrigo Amado and Gabriel Nascimento, tries to answer. Especially for the Training Ship Ciências do Mar III (CMIII), the group is implementing a series of experiments with a 3D hydrodynamic model, the SisBaHiA – Environmental Hydrodynamics Base System, with a refined high spatial resolution grid in a potential location for a future docking pier for the ship, on the shores of UFF’s Gragoatá Campus. The idea of this project is precisely to study the behavior of local currents and the flow of sediments that may silt up the location, thus allowing better planning of maintenance activities in the area around the pier. Along with the numerical model, H2O is installing a tide gauge station in the coming months to monitor the tide level at that point. The tide gauge station, which will be called IARA, for the indigenous deity of water, was developed within a Technological Initiation and Innovation project, funded by AGIR, the Innovation Agency of UFF, and its construction also has the financial support of Pró -rectorate of Research and Graduate Studies at UFF, through the FOPESQ 2021 project, and at FAPERJ, through technological initiation grants. These works have the participation of undergraduate students in Environmental Engineering, and the results will be used in their respective graduation thesis.
