Morphology and dynamics of the base of the western jetty, probable area for the Rio Grande port pilot station, RS State, Brazil

Abstract

The Rio Grande port has suffered accelerated growth over the past few years, a faet which has provoked the arrival of new enterprises, determining a restructuring (change) in the zoning plan of the organized port. The pilot station of the Barra is presently located at the intermediat portion of the Rio Grande Super port. Western margin of the access canal, and in order to improve assistance and navigation safety, it will be transferred to an area closer to the lagoon mouth; such area will be determined by the new zonig plan. At this area, provided by the port, a marina with the entire basic infrastucture for the exercise of piloting will be constructed. This work deals with the acquisition of information consernig the base of the Western Jetty, area located at the Western margin or the port's canal, solicited by the enterprise for the installation of the new piloting station. Seasonal surveys of local environmental conditions and plane-atimetry, utilizing DGPS, were performed, as well as: classification of the botton type utilizing the sieving method,based on the Wentworth scale; mapping of biota and analisys of dynamics with observation of waves and wind data; obtainment f 35 mm digital aerial photographs with the ADAR 1000 system at visible and infrared modes, total station Nikon ® – DTM 330, and in situ photographs. Results demonstrated that the installation of the terminal will bring improvements to the area, with no enveronmental inconvenience and in case implanted, will be extremely useful for portuary activit and port administration.