A new study conducted byCNR Institute of Marine Sciences (National Research Council) has certified that the waters of the lagoon of Venezia they repurchased that clarity is that Health who had not been recognized for a very long time. The residents intent in these days to give the calli a semblance of post lockdown normality found themselves admiring the seabed to many of them unknown.
There are many causes for this unexpected event sanitation, mostly attributable to the absence of commercial and tourist traffic in the Coronavirus emergency.
A systematic review
The study, the result of careful satellite comparisons, was published in the scientific journal Science of the Total Environment. CNR researchers used satellite surveys to categorize and quantify environmental effects lockwdown measures, in particular on the transparency of lagoon waters. The goal was to ascertain how the changes in the human pressure cause temporary effects on sea and bottom quality. The images were collected by the Sentinel-2 satellite and processed by ESA (European Space Agency). The comparative sample periods range from February 20 to March 9 and from March 10 to April 25.
From 10 March, when the Italian government announced the status of lockdown, the lagoon has undergone a real metamorphosis - together with the economic regression shared with every other part of Italy. The Venetian population has literally halved. With the government limitations and restrictions, there has been a drastic drop in occasional regional visitors and the zeroing of tourist flows. To this is added the interruption of urban water traffic. The lagoon has effectively become completely isolated. Public transport services, water taxis, airport shuttles, as well as pleasure and tourist boats, have stopped. The commercial boats that supplied the city daily have significantly reduced the rides. Result: fewer boat discharges, weakening of the wave motion, reduction of urban discharges due to the disappearance of tourist residences.
An opportunity
Il February 20, before the covid emergence, the density of white trails which indicate the boats in motion was decidedly consistent along the Grand Canal and the Giudecca. The 19 March in full lockdown, the situation had completely changed. Unpublished for satellite observation. The water of the lagoon - tell the researchers - it was clearer with less matter suspended in the canals surrounding the city, particularly from Venice to Murano, towards the airport and the canal east of Murano.
In the suffering of the most beautiful city in the world, an opportunity. Especially for researchers, who can really evaluate the extent of the human footprint on that very delicate ecosystem that is the Venice lagoon: a precious cushion of sands and phytoplankton which, if not respected, risks dragging into the depths that same jewel that with kindness embraces.
