TEN-YEARS SEDIMENT DYNAMICS IN NORTHERN ADRIATIC SEA INVESTIGATED THROUGH OPTICAL REMOTE SENSING OBSERVATIONS

Understanding the factors influencing sediment fluxes is a key issue to interpret the evolution of coastal sedimentation under natural and human impact and relevant for the natural resources management. Despite river plumes represent one of the major gain in sedimentary budget of littoral cells, complex behavior of coastal plumes, like river discharge characteristics, wind stress and hydro-climatic variables, has not been yet fully investigated. Use of Earth Observation data allows the identification of spatial and temporal variations of suspended sediments related to river runoff, seafloor erosion, sediment transport and deposition processes. The objective of this study is to investigate superficial processes in sedimentary depositional marine environment integrating in-situ data and remote sensing data. The developed innovative approach allow quantitative evaluation of sediment dynamics using Earth Observation data, by relating spatial and temporal patterns of sediment dispersal with climatic forcings.