USE OF COMPUTATIONAL MODELING TO SIMULATE DRIFT OF STRANDING CETACEANS IN COASTAL REGIONS - A CASE STUDY IN THE PAULISTA COASTLINE.

Resumen

In this work it is simulated the trajectory of a beached whale sighted near Ilhabelaregion, in São Paulo coastline, Brazil, in November 2017. The computational implementationwas performed on the MOHID platform (HIDrodynamics MOdel), using the Water module.The downscalling technique was used to obtain local hydrodynamic currents at local scale.The validity of the model was considered satisfactory after statistical analysis comparing theresults to satellite measurements of the sea surface temperature and also temperature andsalinity profiles measured by ARGO buoys, attesting the purpose to use the model to simulatethe trajectory of the cetacean specimen. The use of these technologies has great potential forresearchers, since it allows the accompaniment of these organisms and avoids the strandingin tourist or densely populated regions, like Paulista region.