DHI technology used for environmental assessement in Venice lagoon
The purpose of the project is to establish a thermal and salinity model for near coastal waters of the Upper Adriatic Sea, capable of estimating temperature and salinity in front of the three inlets to Venice Lagoon. The specific objective is to determine the distribution and origin of water masses off Venice Lagoon. The origin and pathways of the water masses are important for understanding the land-ocean interaction and the source of nutrients and sediments entering or being exchanged with Venice Lagoon. This information is needed in order to be able to establish nutrient and sediment budgets for the lagoon and to support the monitoring activities for measuring the exchange of water between Venice Lagoon and the Adriatic Sea.

The model that has been developed is a 3D model using unstructured mesh, and describing the general circulation in the upper Adriatic Sea and inside the Venice Lagoon. The model describes hydrodynamics, salinity and temperature, and for the purpose of water mass identification transports of 10 conservative tracers are described. Travel times and pathways are further described using a Lagrangian particle tracking module.