This study was based on data analysis temperature and salinity of the water column, used to analyze the identification of water masses in Pará-Maranhão continental shelf. The development this study consisted of four steps: survey literature, analysis of data acquired through CTD during Operation Northern III (1999) Program to REVIZEE from researchers who participated in Operation; map generation horizontal, vertical profiles and map distribution of water masses from the Software Surfer 8.0 and scatter chart from Microsoft Office Excel, and presentation of results. Was found a pattern of distribution coast-offshore, with decreasing the temperature and salinity in this direction increasing, the temperature was higher (29 C) near the coast, a region where salinity has its minimum (4.0), the water column is well mixed, except for one profile, where he was discharged as the vertical stratification temperature and salinity, we identified three water masses on the continental shelf Pará-Maranhão: Coastal Water (CW), Water Mixture (PM) and Tropical Water (TA), which showed heterogeneous distribution. The results are directly related to the dynamics place, since it is a region strongly influenced by the discharge current and the continental North Brazil, and other meteorological and oceanographic forcings.
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