APAT monitoring system in the Venice Lagoon and in the northern Adriatic Sea

The National Agency for Environmental Protection and Technical Services manages the Real Time Tidal Gauge System in the lagoon of Venice and the northern Adriatic Sea. The principal objective is the analysis of historical time series for tidal data to investigate subsidence and eustatism, storm surge events and morphological evolution in the transitional environment of the coastal areas in the north-western Adriatic regions. Results from the application of data for the analysis of storm surges are illustrated. The focus is also put on the effect of the wind set-up along the border of the lagoon of Venice caused by the local winds blowing from north-easterly (bora) or south-easterly (sirocco) quadrants. A preliminary updated analysis on the astronomical tides in the lagoon is also presented. The main differences among the hydrodynamics of the lagoon in the early 20(th) century and the lagoon today are high lighted, thus confirming the concern that a meaningful decay from a transitional to a marine environment is taking place. In conclusion, current measurements at the Lido inlet are presented, including recent results on the estimation of the suspended sediments transport investigated by means of acoustic doppler current profilers.