Objective:
- To gain insight in spatial and temporal variation of submerged macrophytes (seagrass beds and macro-algae) and
their correlation to eutrophication and anoxic crises in the Lagoon of Venice;
- To investigate the morphodynamics, coastal erosion and accretion patterns in dynamic key areas, based on suspended
sediment transport-dispersion pathways.
The Venice lagoon with a total surface of ca. 550 km² is a very shallow coastal environment with a mean depth of 1
m, connected with the sea through three inlets (Lido, Malamocco, Chioggia). It is influenced by freshwater from the land
and tides of the NAS, so a succession of different environments from the mainland to the sea characterizes the complex
morphology of the lagoon. For example: shallows, mudflats, wetlands, sandbars, islands and a dense network of channels.
Like all lagoons, it is a constanly evolving environment, which tends to be swallowed up by the sea, if erosive forces
of tides and waves are allowed to prevail, or to turn into a strip of land, if the sediments from rivers and sea are
allowed to build up.
Today, the problems that undermine the balance of the lagoon's ecosystem are quite different. Changes brought about
by man and Nature have triggered a process that is quite the opposite to silting-up: the relative land level is now
about 24 cm lower than the sea and so settlements are now exposed to high tides (the phenomenon known as “acqua
alta”) with increasing frequency and intensity; at the same time other problems also compromise the ecosystem, such as
erosion of the morphological structures of the lagoon and pollution, once an unknown enemy.
CoastObs will gain insight in spatial and temporal variation of submerged macrophytes (seagrass
beds and macro-algae) and their correlation to eutrophication and anoxic crises in the Lagoon of Venice; and will
further investigate the morphodynamics, coastal erosion and accretion patterns in dynamic key areas, based on suspended
sediment transport-dispersion pathways.