Seminars : Documents

Using High Resolution Satellite Turbidity And Sea Surface Temperature to Describe River Plume Interactions in the Northern Adriatic Sea
Vittorio Brando (CNR - ISMAR)

Sea surface temperature (SST) and turbidity (T) derived from Landsat-8 (L8) imagery were used to characterize river plumes in the Northern Adriatic Sea (NAS). Sea surface salinity (SSS) from an operational coupled ocean-wave model supported the interpretation of the plumes interaction with the receiving waters and among them. In this study we first used L8 OLI and TIRS imagery of 19 November 2014 capturing a significant freshwater inflow into the NAS for mapping both T and SST at 30 meters resolution. Sharp fronts in T and SST delimited each single river plume. The isotherms and turbidity isolines coupling varied among the plumes due to differences in particle loads and surface temperatures in the discharged waters. Thirty-meters resolution turbidity maps derived from (L8) images were then used to investigate spatial and temporal variations of suspended matter patterns and distribution in the area of Po River prodelta (Italy) in the period from April 2013 to October 2015. The main focus of the work was the study of small and sub-mesoscale structures, linking them to the main forcings that control the fate of suspended sediments in the northern Adriatic Sea. The main focus of the work was the mesoscale delineation of the major river plumes and study of small and sub-mesoscale structures, linking them to the main forcings that control the fate of suspended sediments in the northern Adriatic Sea.