Vulnerability of Venices coastland torelative sea-level rise
L. Tosi, S. Donnici
Institute of Geosciences and Earth Resources, CNR, Padova, Italy
C. Da Lio
Institute of Marine Sciences, CNR, Venezia, Italy
S. Strozzi
Gamma Remote Sensing, Gumligen, Switzerland
P. Teatini
Dept. of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
ABSTRACT
Relative sea-level rise (RSLR), i.e. sea-level rise due to climate changes combined with
land subsi-dence, is one of the processes that is most severely threatening the coastal
systems around the world. The Venice coastland forms the major low-lying area in Italy
and encompasses a variety of environments, such as farmlands, estuaries, deltas, lagoons
and urbanized areas. Valuable ecosystems, historical heritages and economic activities
are located in this area. Since most of the territory lies at a ground elevation below
or slightly above the mean sea-level, also a few mm/yr of land subsidence can seriously
impacts on the Venice coastal system. In this study, we present an analysis of the
vulnerability to RSLR considering an uneven land subsidence distribution, with an
application on the Venice coastland. The analysis is delineated at the regional scale
by an index-based model and a proper coupling of various thematic layers, such as high
spatial resolution land subsidence data retrieved by satellite SAR interferometry,
ongoing and projected sea-level rise trends, and morpho-physiographic setting of the coastland.
