Luca Carniello | Università degli Studi di Padova (original) (raw)

Papers by Luca Carniello

Nature Communications, Jan 23, 2017

&lt;p&gt;Flood-regulation systems and storm-surge barriers are increasingly adopt... more &lt;p&gt;Flood-regulation systems and storm-surge barriers are increasingly adopted to protect many coastal cities worldwide from the flooding hazard related to rising sea levels. Eminent examples include London, the Netherland, New Orleans, St. Petersburg, and Venice. Regulating the propagation of surges and tides, barriers will also change sediment transport, thus modifying the morphological evolution of estuarine systems nearby the protected urban areas. However, how the morphodynamic evolution of tidal environments will be affected by flood regulation is still an unresolved question.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;We investigate the effect of the recently-activated storm-surge barriers designed to protect Venice (Italy) from flooding on the morphological evolution of the Venice Lagoon, combining numerical modelling and field data.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Artificially reduced water levels affect the interaction between tide and waves, enhancing sediment resuspension on tidal flats. Accumulation of resuspended sediments on salt marshes however is hindered by the reduced flooding intensity owing to lower water levels, thus potentially undermining marsh ability to keep pace with rising sea levels. Simultaneously, eroded sediments tend to accumulate within channels, thus mining water exchange and increasing dredging costs.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Over longer (i.e., seasonal) timescales, we suggest that although barrier closures reduce net sediment export toward the open sea, this does not point to preserving the characteristic lagoonal morphology, hindering salt-marsh accumulation and promoting tidal-flat deepening and channel infilling. Hence, the operation of flood barriers can trigger an important loss of tidal landforms, negatively impacting the conservation of shallow tidal environments and the ecosystem services they provide.&lt;/p&gt;

2018 IEEE International Workshop on Metrology for the Sea; Learning to Measure Sea Health Parameters (MetroSea), 2018

The aim of the present contribution is to present a peculiar experimental set up, designed to inv... more The aim of the present contribution is to present a peculiar experimental set up, designed to investigate the interaction between solitary waves and rigid emergent vegetation. The complexity of the problem required the combined use of different measurement systems of water level and velocity field. Some preliminary results of the experimental investigation, that allow to point out the effect of the vegetation on the propagation of a solitary wave, are also presented.

Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 2021

Abstract In October 2020, for the first time in its thousand-year-old history, the Venice Lagoon ... more Abstract In October 2020, for the first time in its thousand-year-old history, the Venice Lagoon has been temporarily closed. The first operations of the Mo.S.E. system, a set of artificial barriers built to isolate the lagoon from the sea in case of high tides, prevented Venice and the other lagoonal settlements from flooding. Beyond its historical value, the closure of the lagoon inlets has led to unprecedented scenarios from a hydrodynamic standpoint. With the Mo.S.E. system operational, significant high tides can no longer be recorded within the lagoon and the undisturbed tide propagation can only be estimated through hydrodynamic modelling. When the inlets are closed and the effect of tide propagation nullified, the action of wind on cross-lagoon setup is enhanced and becomes more clearly recognizable, allowing for a robust calibration of the wind drag coefficient also for low to moderate wind speed. Furthermore, the data collected during the first closures of the Mo.S.E. gates allowed evaluating the real intra-gate infiltration entering the lagoon through the closed gates, and suggested that the gate operation produces some seaward disturbance as well.

Water Science and Engineering, 2020

Remote Sensing, 2019

Given the increasing anthropogenic pressures on lagoons, estuaries, and lakes and considering the... more Given the increasing anthropogenic pressures on lagoons, estuaries, and lakes and considering the highly dynamic behavior of these systems, methods for the continuous and spatially distributed retrieval of water quality are becoming vital for their correct monitoring and management. Water temperature is certainly one of the most important drivers that influence the overall state of coastal systems. Traditionally, lake, estuarine, and lagoon temperatures are observed through point measurements carried out during field campaigns or through a network of sensors. However, sporadic measuring campaigns or probe networks rarely attain a density sufficient for process understanding, model development/validation, or integrated assessment. Here, we develop and apply an integrated approach for water temperature monitoring in a shallow lagoon which incorporates satellite and in-situ data into a mathematical model. Specifically, we use remote sensing information to constrain large-scale patterns...

Water, 2019

Improving current understanding of hydrodynamics and sediment dynamics in complex tidal embayment... more Improving current understanding of hydrodynamics and sediment dynamics in complex tidal embayments is of major importance to face future challenges derived from climate change and increasing human pressure. This work deepens the knowledge of the hydro-morphodynamics of complex creek networks that connect basins with different characteristics, identifying their morphodynamic trends and the potential impacts of channel deepening. We selected two tidal creeks which flow through salt marshes and tidal flats of the Cádiz Bay (SW Spain) in a singular network due to their double connection to the Atlantic Ocean and the inner bay. We study the interactions between tidal waves that penetrate into the creeks from these two different bodies of water, analyzing the tidal asymmetry and the morphodynamic tendencies of the system. For the analysis, we set up a hydro-morphodynamic model specifically developed for areas with very shallow and complex channels. Results show that the tidal wave penetra...