Investigating prediction performance of an artificial neural network and a numerical model of the tidal signal at Puerto Belgrano, Bahia Blanca Estuary (Argentina)

In the present study we compare performances of the prediction of hourly tidal level variations at Puerto Belgrano, a coastal site in the Bahia Blanca Estuary (Argentina), by means of the MOHID model, which is a numerical model designed for coastal and estuarine shallow water applications, and of an artificial neural network (ANN). It was shown that the ANN model is able to predict the hourly tidal levels over long term duration with at least seven days of observations and with a better performance in respect to the numerical model. Our findings can be useful to implement ANN-based tools for future studies of the hydrodynamics of Bahía Blanca estuary.