Mitigation of and adaptation to UHI phenomena : the Padua case study

Elaborating solutions to counteract UHI effects can represents a relevant challenge for spatial planning and urban design. A specific experimentation has been developed on the city of Padua, analysing different scenarios of urban warming and using specific monitoring tools (Lidar/aerial survey) to define a DIM (Digital Surface Models) providing local situation in terms of green quality and extension, solar incidence/radiation, sky view factors, building materials. This chapter reconstruct the methodology followed during the survey and the elaboration of specific solutions to counteract UHI accordingly different scenarios

Modern sedimentary facies in a progradational barrier-spit system, Goro lagoon, Po delta, Italy

Barriers and spits connected to fluvial sedimentary sources represent environments which tend to evolve rapidly and experience sudden transformations, mainly driven by changes in sediment supply and path. As a consequence, the variability of facies is significant even within small sedimentary records. The 7 km long barrier-spit system facing the Goro Lagoon, and fed by the mouth of the Po di Goro, is a typical example of an accretionary coastal morphotype, suitable to describe adjacent nearshore depositional environments and their stratigraphic signatures, variability, and relationships. Thirteen short cores of sediment were sampled in order to represent the variable depositional subenvironments from the shoreface (prodelta-delta front) to the back barrier, crossing the active barrier-spit and the ancient spit arms and relative swales. The description of the modern sedimentary records, improved upon using core X-rays, has been coupled with information on the morphological changes which occurred during the period of maximum spit development (1955\u20132000), based on available aerial photos and a cartographic/topographic dataset. The results obtained allow for the description and interpretation of the depositional environments changing at the human-scale. Sediments of the upper shoreface are quite uniform, composed by evenly laminated sands; the transition between delta front and prodelta at a depth of 6m is marked by the alternation of sand and mud beds. These reflect the periodic changes in sediment supply by the river, as well as storm events. The most recent spit branch and the relative back barrier-swale environment are the results of the rapid progradation of the spit system, which implies phases of rapid longshore growth, hooked spit development, cannibalization, overwash, and breaching. Morphodynamic changes have resulted in an overlap of short sedimentary records where stratigraphic signatures are linked either to phases of sediment transport and selection by waves and tidal currents (cross-bedding, foreset, and planar laminated sands, shell imbrication, massive beds) or to phases of sedimentary stasis when biological activity is predominant (algal mat and bioturbation). Human signature is also well marked inside the stratigraphic record. Clam harvesting is carried out within the lagoon, causing the physical disturbance and winnowing of the superficial sediment, thus inducing the local formation of graded beds and shell rehash

Inventory and conservation assessment for the management of coastal dunes, Veneto coasts, Italy

Management of coastal dunes on developed coasts could effectively take advantage of comprehensive and multi temporal georeferenced data collection, which offers the possibility to relate dune data with the natural and cultural characteristics of the beach and hinterland. The recent implementation of a coastal management geodatabase for the Veneto region provides the opportunity for improving knowledge on coastal dunes on developed littoral as well as a basis for appropriate future coastal planning in the study area. The geodatabase gathers data concerning different physical, evolutionary and human aspects of the coastal zone, with a special focus on coastal dunes. Established foredunes, human-altered dunes and relict dunes are irregularly distributed along 59 km, 38% of the entire coastal length. Their distribution and characteristics are the result of favourable natural conditions as well as long-lasting tourism exploitation (evaluated through an index of Land Use Pressure) and fragmentary and diversified uses of beaches (evaluated through an index of Tourism Pressure on the beach). At the same time, beach/dune nourishment intervention allowed the presence of artificial or sand fenced dunes along 17 km of coast. High dune elevation up to 8\u201310 m is promoted by the onshore exposition of the beach to dominant wind (from ENE), by stable-to-slowly negative sedimentary budget or by the re-activation of high relict foredunes in the case of shoreline retreat associated with strong negative budget. Present sedimentary budget (evaluated through the code ASPE \u2013 Accretion, Stable, Precarious, Erosive) is the tool used for dividing coasts in sedimentary compartments or cells. Past and present sedimentary budget and different human responses to erosive cases (hard and soft interventions) give the foredunes different means to form, grow, survive and evolve over time. The assessment of human impact and active management practices on the dunes allows a first evaluation of the management effectiveness, which shows strong shortcomings for 81% of the dunes. The great variability of beach usage, human impact and management practises on the different dune stretches highlight the lack of effective and systematic management actions being correctly scheduled and performed

The historical practice of disposal of dredged sediments in the Marano and Grado Lagoon: evaluation of geomorphological, evolutionary and functional perspective of the resulting artificial saltmarshes

An inventory was conducted of the present saltmarshes whose origin is due to the dredging and sediment disposal subsequent to an important waterway carried out in the early 1900 in the Marano and Grado Lagoon, a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) located in the northern Adriatic Sea. Morphology, evolution and habitat distribution were investigated by means of field surveys and topological analysis in GIS, using air photo for the period 1954-2011. Considering the overall maintenance of saltmarshes after 57 years since the sediment disposal, the frequent presence of near-natural morphologies and the subsequent development of Natura 2000 habitats, it is possible to state that building saltmarshes with dredged sediment has achieved good results during time. The historical practice of re-using dredged sediments for morphological and habitat restoration could be re-proposed as best practice for an effective conservation and management of the lagoon

Strumenti e politiche di adattamento per UHI nell\u2019area centrale veneta

La ricerca si propone di misurare l'effetto UHI sul territorio dell\u2019area metropolitana della citt\ue0 di Padova, inteso quindi come ambito \u201claboratorio\u201d per condurre approfondimenti specifici

Mitigazione e adattamento ai fenomeni di UHI: il caso studio di Padova

Il capitolo illustra la sperimentazione condotta e finalizzata a cogliere il legame tra clima locale, struttura urbana e formazione dell’effetto isola di calore, con l’obiettivo di orientare nel prossimo futuro, mediante linee di indirizzo, gli interventi sul territorio. E' stata qindi individuata una porzione dell’area metropolitana della città di Padova, come ambito di sperimentazione analitico-progettuale, con l’intenzione di applicare successivamente i risultati di tale sperimentazione al resto dell’area centrale veneta. Spesso le cause che generano le isole di calore urbane sono dei fattori puntuali (come ad esempio grandi super!ci pavimentate) relazionati direttamente con fattori sistemici estesi (come la dispersione notturna del calore assorbito dai tessuti urbani periferici, o l’inquinamento prodotto dalle aree produttive sempre in periferia). Questa pluralità di cause obbliga a studiare l’isola di calore a diversi livelli, sia orizzontale che verticale

Geomorphological Changes of a Migrating Sandbank: Multidecadal Analysis as a Tool for Managing Conflicts in Coastal Use

While beach erosion and sand loss are typically of great concern to the tourism industry, managing rapid morphological changes linked to large amounts of moving sediments is the challenge facing Grado, an important seaside resort in the northern Adriatic, Italy. The cause of the unusual management conflict is the presence of the Mula di Muggia Bank, a nearshore depositional system made up of relict and active migrating sandbanks extending up to 2 km seawards from the touristic beachfront. A reconstruction of the morpho-sedimentary evolution of the coastal system over a 200-year period was done using a large dataset which includes historical cartography, topographic maps, aerial photos and topo-bathymetric surveys. The results show the growth of a significant urban development aimed at creating a tourist destination by occupying the waterfront along fetch-limited coastal tracts with very shallow water and scarce hydrodynamics. Furthermore, a number of sandy dynamic landforms (longshore migrating bars, a bypass corridor, an ebb-tidal delta) and accumulation zones attest to a sediment excess which can be mostly attributed to the eastern river supplies. The progressive constant migration rate of 12.6 my-1 allowed the bank to induce the expansion of the low-energy silty backbarrier environment, characterised by abundant seagrass meadows a short distance directly in front of the tourist beaches of Grado. As a result of historical analysis and more current observations, areas with diverse morphosedimentary features and with varying tourist/recreational, ecological, and conservation values have been identified. These can be considered as basic units for future accurate planning and re-evaluation of coastal management choices to balance environmental protection and tourist use. A soft coastal defence approach is proposed which includes either the preservation of specific environments or the proper use of excess sand for beach nourishment via periodic dredging or sediment bypassing

Optimised Extraction of Archaeological Features from Full 3-D GPR Data

The use of non-invasive methodologies is becoming essential for archaeological research, and ground penetrating radar is one of the most important techniques to obtain high resolution information. In this paper we present the analysis of a full 3-D GPR dataset integrated with a high-resolution photogrammetric survey acquired in a Roman archaeological site located in Aquileia (Northeast Italy) within the partially excavated area known as “Fondo Pasqualis”. We evaluated the importance of dense and accurate data collection and of processing of the GPR signal for characterization of the archaeological features. We further discuss the parametrization and the applicability of GPR attributes, in particular amplitude-based and coherence attributes, to better identify and characterise the archaeological buried targets. Furthermore, autopicking procedures for isosurfaces mapping were critically evaluated with the objective of detecting complex structures. The final interpretation of all the GPR features, with the support of digital terrain modelling and orthophotos from unmanned aerial vehicles, guided the archaeologists to open and excavate newly selected areas, which revealed interesting structures and contributed to the understanding of the historical events that characterized the Aquileia city

From rapid coastal collapse to slow sedimentary recovery: The morphological ups and downs of the modern Po Delta

As is the case with many deltas in the world, the Po Delta (Italy) and its barrier systems have experienced severe modifications over the last century as a consequence of anthropogenic subsidence and river input decrease. The interruption of subsurface fluid withdrawals in the early 1960s created an opportunity to evaluate the effects of the subsequent subsidence decrease along the 11\u202fkm of beaches and 45\u202fkm of barrier islands of the Po Delta, and improve the understanding of coastal system response to relative sea level rise. To this aim, shoreline and bathymetric multi-decadal dataset were coupled with the local rate of subsidence and classified with a geomorphic - response approach. From 1954-78, a mean shoreline variation of 12224\u202fm ( 129.34\u202fm y 121) occurred under high rates of subsidence (14\u201343\u202fmm y 121) with a diffuse process of landward barrier rollover (up to 1124\u202fm), frequently associated with break-up. This phase is evidenced by the diffuse sinking of the shoreface (up to 4\u202fm), the negative upper-shoreface sediment budget and the parallel drowning of the cross-shore profiles highlighted by the 1968\u20132008 bathymetric dataset. Despite the loss of altimetry and shoreline retreat being almost irrecoverable, during the period from 1978 to 1996 and 1996 to 2014 barrier islands experienced a stabilisation in response to a decrease in the subsidence rates down to 6\u202fmm y 121. The mean rates of shoreline changes ( 120.25 and + 1.51 m y 121 respectively) are the results of different local behaviour with progressively dominant longshore processes and progradation at the most active fluvial branches. The most recent bathymetric data (2008\u20132014) confirm this reversal trend, both in the altimetry differences and in the upper shoreface sediment budget. This trend is at odds with signals from many of the world's deltas and represents an important issue for the present and future coastal management and adaptation plans