Environmental study of a coastal lagoon: monitoring and modelling’

Monitoring and modelling using the Shallow Water Equations (SWE) have been applied to the eco-hydraulic study of a one km² lagoon in NW Sardinia, Italy. The study of the lagoon is useful in order to guarantee that the water would be suitable for fish farm management and to formulate appropriate plans for environmental protection. The hydrodynamic and salt diffusion model calibration was carried out with the environmental monitoring of the lagoon. A financial support has been granted to install an adequate electronic equipment for data acquisition. One climatic station for the measurement of the meteorological parameters and two stations for the hydrometric levels were set up. An accurate planobathymetrical survey of the entire lagoon was also performed. A mobile station, installed on a boat equipped with an impeller current meter, has been used for the spatially distributed survey of the salinity and the temperature of the water. The level-measuring stations have shown, on the one hand, the delay of the tide within the lagoon, and, on the other hand, a negligible decrease in the amplitude of the oscillations. This data has permitted a calibration of the resistance coefficient of the simulation model and, in general, a test of its reliability.