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Hydrological Regime and Renewal Capacity of the Micro-tidal Lesina Lagoon, Italy

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Abstract

A multidisciplinary approach that combines field measurements, artificial neural networks, water balance analyses and hydrodynamic modelling was developed to investigate the water budget and renewal capacity of semi-closed coastal systems. The method was applied to the Lesina Lagoon, a micro-tidal lagoon in the southern Adriatic Sea (Italy). Surface water flux between the lagoon and the sea was determined by neural network prediction and used as input in the analysis. Strong seasonal variations in the water budget equation were predicted. Fresh water inputs estimated by the water balance analysis were used as forcing by a calibrated finite element model to describe the water circulation and transport time scale of the lagoon’s surface waters. The model highlighted the spatial heterogeneity of the renewal behaviour of the system, with a strong east–west water renewal time gradient. Knowledge of spatial distribution of water renewal times is crucial for understanding the lagoon’s renewal capacity and explaining the high spatial variability of the biogeochemistry of the Lesina Lagoon.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the “Associazione Regionale Consorzi di Difesa della Puglia” for providing the meteorological data and the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA) for providing sea level and sea surface temperature data. The authors would also like to thank Prof. Giuseppe Spilotro, Dr. John Rapaglia and Dr. Georg Umgiesser for their guidance and help.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CNR - National Research Council of Italy, ISMAR - Marine Sciences Institute in Venice, Castello 2737/f, 30122, Venice, Italy

    Christian Ferrarin, Luca Zaggia, Giuliano Lorenzetti, Marco Bajo & Stefano Guerzoni

  2. CNR - National Research Council of Italy, IAMC - Institute for the Coastal Marine Environment in Oristano, 090782, Torregrande, Oristano, Italy

    Christian Ferrarin

  3. CNR - National Research Council of Italy, ISMAR - Marine Sciences Institute in Ancona, Largo Fiera della Pesca, 60125, Ancona, Italy

    Elio Paschini & Pierluigi Penna

  4. CNR - National Research Council of Italy, ISMAR - Marine Sciences Institute in Lesina, Via Pola 4, 71010, Lesina, Italy

    Tommaso Scirocco, Matteo Francavilla & Raffaele D’Adamo

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  1. Christian Ferrarin
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  2. Luca Zaggia
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  3. Elio Paschini
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  10. Stefano Guerzoni
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Correspondence to Christian Ferrarin.

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Ferrarin, C., Zaggia, L., Paschini, E. et al. Hydrological Regime and Renewal Capacity of the Micro-tidal Lesina Lagoon, Italy. Estuaries and Coasts 37, 79–93 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-013-9660-x

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