The Princeton Ocean Model was applied to the inner shelf adjacent to the São Sebastião Island (SSI) by nesting two numerical grids to study the seasonal changes in the circulation and thermohaline structure. Through monthly average conditions, the numerical model simulated reasonably well the typical conditions of spring, summer, autumn and winter. The bottom of the inner shelf was filled with South Atlantic Central Water mass (SACW) in the two previously mentioned seasons (spring and summer), being advected to the SSC through its southern entrance, and stronger signs of Tropical Water mass (TW) were found in the upper layers. Weaker signs of the SACW appeared in the autumn but, in the remaining seasons, this water mass was not found and thermohaline properties of the Coastal Water (AC) mass were predominant.
Numerical modelling; thermohaline structure; water mass; currents; cold front
