Abstract

Before implementation hydrodynamical and ecological models in estuarine systems it is necessary a set of morphological and hydrological information at different spatial scales. The quality of this information will affect directly the model quality. A classification with three hierarchical levels was done for the Paranagua Estuarine Complex focusing on both the morphological and hydrological characteristics. This classification allowed a physical characterization in different spatial scales, which is necessary for the watershed and coastal waters zonation, as well as the application of models, at each level. Remote sensing and GIS techniques were used to extract features from Landsat ETM such as the coastline, the upper limit of wetlands; the vegetated flooded area, composed basically of mangroves and salt marshes on upper areas; and mud flats. The top level in the hierarchy is the Paranagua Estuarine Complex as a whole. The next level consists in a division of the system in five sections, and in the last hierarchy level seven sub-estuaries were delimited. Attributes were obtained for all the units defined in each hierarchy level, such as area, perimeter, depth (when available), water body area (without wetlands), wetlands area, tidal flat, drainage area, drainage density, hydraulic gradient and river discharge (when available).