A new scientific study offers important perspectives for understanding and the mitigation of extreme events in the Venice lagoon
Extreme events, increasingly frequent and intense due to anthropogenic climate change, raise serious concerns for social and economic impacts, especially for the city of Venice.
in the studio"”, recently published in Scientifics Reports of Nature, a team of international researchers ofNational Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), the and and of the Municipality of Venice developed a dynamic diagnostic methodology to better understand the extreme high water events (ESL) in the Venice lagoon and to evaluate the effectiveness of the MoSE (Experimental Electromechanical Module) in their mitigation.
The research aims to provide new strategies and solutions to mitigate the effects of increasingly frequent extreme high water events in the Venice lagoon, induced by climate change and global sea level rise.
The Venice lagoon is particularly vulnerable to extreme weather events that can cause exceptional high water events and significant damage, as happened last time in November 2019.
Therefore, researchers have developed a dynamic diagnostic methodology based on two indicators: instantaneous size and inverse persistence. These indicators, derived from the combination of the theory of extreme events and dynamic systems, make it possible to anticipate the occurrence and extent of extreme marine weather events in the Venice lagoon.
"We based the study on an in-depth analysis of the data recorded by the Forecasting and Reporting Center Venice tides in the lagoon and on the use of mathematical methods to understand the mechanisms that lead to extreme sea level events affecting Venice and on the effectiveness of mitigation measures", he has declared Tommaso Alberti, INGV researcher and first author of the research.
“The performances of the Moses, protection system recently put into operation and designed precisely to safeguard the city of Venice from extreme marine level events that increasingly affect the lagoon, were evaluated in relation to the values of the two dynamic indicators. Our study shows that the MoSE acts effectively by reducing and controlling the amplitude of sea level fluctuations with the action of mobile barriers. However, its effectiveness is strongly influenced by the timing of its activation.
Our results indicate that MoSE can provide valuable support to mitigate extreme high water events only if fully operational several hours before the occurrence of a significant event.”, He adds Marco Anzidei, co-author of the research which was also carried out thanks to the European project , coordinated by INGV and funded by the European Commission under the aegis of the European Civil Protection DG-ECHO.
The promotion of scientific research dedicated to the development of innovative solutions to face new environmental challenges is a fundamental part of the international collaboration of INGV to protect vulnerable areas of high historical, environmental and touristic value such as the Venice lagoon. The study was carried out thanks to the collaboration between INGV and the Municipality of Venice with the Tide Forecasting and Reporting Center, as part of the European project Savemedcoasts2.
Study citation:
Alberti, T., Anzidei, M., Faranda, D. et al. Dynamical diagnostic of extreme events in Venice lagoon and their mitigation with the MoSE. Sci rep 13 (10475).
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