A three-dimensional linear hydrodynamical numerical model, Heaps type, was developed and applied to the southeastern Brazilian continental shelf, to simulate motions in the sea due to astronomical and meteorological effects. The first experiment of the model reproduced the propagation of the principal lunar tidal component (M2), allowing the plotting of its cotidal lines and current ellipses. In the second experiment, the circulation generated by astronomical factors only was simulated. And in the third experiment, the effect of the principal astronomical tidal components and meteorological effects observed in the area were reproduced, representing the total circulation in the shelf, in a period of high tidal elevations in the coast, due to the incursion of a deep cold front in this region.
Mathematical models; Simulation; Hydrodynamics; Tides; Coastal circulation; Continental shelf; Southeastern Brazilian coast