Calibration and validation of a hydrodynamic model for water level prediction in a tropical gulf

The calibration and validation of a hydrodynamic model for water level prediction over the Gulf of Nicoya estuary using the Delft3D-FM simulation environment developed by Deltares is shown. For the simulation environment, an irregular grid in three dimensions was used over the gulf region that contemplates shallow waters (less than 80 m). Calibration of the model was performed for dry and rainy seasons considering different variations in the model input conditions that consider river discharges,  wind and variation in the number of layers in the vertical. Subsequently, validation of the model was performed considering different stages involving neap and spring tides for dates within the dry and rainy seasons. The calibration and validation processes were evaluated using several measures of error and adjustment, which showed little improvement when using 10 or more layers in the vertical. The model evaluation showed that it is possible to reproduce observations of the water level over the estuary accurately using 10 or fewer layers in the vertical.