Search results for " Idrologia"

Sprectroradiometric characteristics of inland water bodies infestated by Oscillatoria rubescens algae

2010

In December 2006 blooms of Oscillatoria rubescens were found in the reservoir Prizzi in Sicily. Oscillatoria is a genus of filamentous alga comprising approximately 6 species, between these the O. rubescens is sadly famous since this organism produces microcystins which are powerful hepatotoxins. Firstly found in Europe in 1825 on Geneva lake, recently (2006) those algae has been find out in Pozzillo, Nicoletti e Ancipa reservoirs (Enna Province), as well as in Prizzi (Palermo Province) and Garcia reservoirs (Trapani Province). Toxins produced by those bacteria (usually called microcystine LR-1 and LR-2) are highly toxic since they can activate oncogenes cells causing cancer pathologies on …

Receiving water body quality assessment: an integrated mathematical approach applied to an Italian case study

2011

This study presents a basin-scale approach to the analysis of receiving water body quality considering both point and non-point pollution sources. In particular, this paper describes an extensive data gathering campaign carried out in the Nocella catchment, which is an agricultural and semi-urbanised basin located in Sicily, Italy. Two sewer systems, two wastewater treatment plants and a river reach were monitored during both dry and wet weather periods. A mathematical model of the entire integrated system was also created. Specifically, a detailed modelling approach was developed by employing three well known models: Storm Water Management Model, GPS-X and Soil and Water Assessment Tool. T…

Emission standards versus immission standards for assessing the impact of urban drainage on ephemeral receiving water bodies

2010

In the past, emission standard indicators have been adopted by environmental regulation authorities in order to preserve the quality of a receiving water body. Such indicators are based on the frequency or magnitude of a polluted discharge that may be continuous or intermittent. In order to properly maintain the quality of receiving waters, the Water Framework Directive, following the basic ideas of British Urban Pollution Manual, has been established. The Directive has overtaken the emission-standard concept, substituting it with the stream-standard concept that fixes discharge limits for each polluting substance depending on the self-depurative characteristics of receiving waters. Stream-…

Quantification of diffuse and concentrated pollutant loads at the watershed-scale: an Italian case study

2009

In this study, diffuse and point source pollutant loads were evaluated using an Italian case study: the Nocella catchment, which has been subject to extensive monitoring. The Nocella catchment is located in Sicily (Italy) and has an area of about 60 km2. The river receives wastewater and stormwater from two urban areas drained by combined sewers. The two sewer systems, two wastewater treatment plants and a river reach were monitored during both dry and wet weather periods. Thereafter, an integrated catchment-scale model was applied to simulate point pollutant sources, i.e., pollution coming from the urban drainage system, and nonpoint pollutant sources, i.e., pollution coming from agricultu…

Monitoring Mediterranean marine pollution using remote sensing and hydrodynamic modelling

2011

Human activities contaminate both coastal areas and open seas, even though impacts are different in terms of pollutants, ecosystems and recovery time. In particular, Mediterranean offshore pollution is mainly related to maritime transport of oil, accounting for 25% of the global maritime traffic and, during the last 25 years, for nearly 7% of the world oil accidents, thus causing serious biological impacts on both open sea and coastal zone habitats. This paper provides a general review of maritime pollution monitoring using integrated approaches of remote sensing and hydrodynamic modeling; focusing on the main results of the MAPRES (Marine pollution monitoring and detection by aerial survei…

Propagation of precipitation measurement biases into the hydraulic modelling of urban drainage systems – A case study of the Parco D’Orleans sub-urba…

2020

Aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of Precipitation Measurement Biases (PMBs) of tippingbucket rain gauges onto the hydraulic modelling of urban drainage networks. As a case study, the monitored experimental suburban catchment of Parco d’Orleans located in the University Campus of Palermo, Italy and managed since 1987 by the Department of Engineering of the University of Palermo is considered. . Two tipping-bucket rain gauges provide a good spatial coverage of the catchment area and an acoustic level gauge is installed at the outlet of the drainage network for flow mesaurements. Contemporary high temporal resolution rainfall and runoff data series are available between 1993 to 1998…

Effects of precipitation seasonality, irrigation, vegetation cycle and soil type on enhanced weathering – modeling of cropland case studies across fo…

2022

Enhanced weathering (EW) is a promising strategy for carbon sequestration, but several open questions remain regarding the actual rates of dissolution in conditions of natural hydroclimatic variability in comparison to laboratory experiments. In this context, models play a pivotal role, as they allow exploring and predicting EW dynamics under different environmental conditions. Here a comprehensive hydro-biogeochemical model has been applied to four cropland case studies (i.e., Sicily and the Padan plain in Italy and California and Iowa in the USA) characterized by different rainfall seasonality, vegetation (i.e., wheat for Sicily and California and corn for the Padan plain and Iowa), and s…

IMPLEMENTAZIONE DI UN ALGORITMO DI CLUSTERING PER L’IDENTIFICAZIONE DELLE PRECIPITAZIONI STRATIFORMI E CONVETTIVE ALLA SCALA D’EVENTO: UN’APPLICAZION…

Analisi della affidabilità dei database pluviometrici globali a scala locale. Applicazione al territorio siciliano

2012

Negli ultimi anni i sistemi di misurazione e di stima delle precipitazioni, sono stati arricchiti dalla possibilità di ottenere stime attraverso dati acquisiti da sensori satellitari. I prodotti di stima così ottenuti risultano comunque spesso fortemente distorti. Per tale ragione le stime sulla base di soli dati satellitari, vengono ulteriormente elaborate attraverso l'utilizzo di dataset che raccolgono dati di precipitazione provenienti da reti pluviografiche al fine di ridurre la distorsione che caratterizza i dati satellitari. È auspicabile che questi dataset siano quanto più precisi al fine di fornire dati adatti alla correzione dei dati satellitari e in particolare alla riduzione dell…

Receiving water quality assessment: comparison between simplified and detailed integrated urban modelling approaches

2010

Urban water quality management often requires use of numerical models allowing the evaluation of the cause–effect relationship between the input(s) (i.e. rainfall, pollutant concentrations on catchment surface and in sewer system) and the resulting water quality response. The conventional approach to the system (i.e. sewer system, wastewater treatment plant and receiving water body), considering each component separately, does not enable optimisation of the whole system. However, recent gains in understanding and modelling make it possible to represent the system as a whole and optimise its overall performance. Indeed, integrated urban drainage modelling is of growing interest for tools to …