Venice, Italy
Location: Acqua Alta Tower, Venice, Italy
Focus: Technology validation
Summary
AquaWatch has developed a test site in the city of Venice, Italy to monitor the city’s water quality, using CSIRO’s HydraSpectra sensor technology.
Water quality monitoring is crucial for studying environmental issues within the city’s lagoon such as ‘blooming’, the rapid proliferation of algae and cyanobacteria in warm, stagnant waters.
Instrument validation
The objective of this collaborative project between CSIRO and CNR, is to leverage an existing well-equipped calibration and validation site in Europe, the AAOT, to install CSIRO’s HydraSpectra hyperspectral sensor to:
- Collect data alongside other radiometric instrumentation and validate its role as a secondary radiometer.
- Investigate water quality algorithms from HydraSpectra reflectance data for European coastal waters to help implement the AquaWatch Mission, using complimentary data from in situ water quality sensors at the AAOT tower, comparing HydraSpectra performance to other local sensors, as a validation source for hyperspectral satellite (including from PRISMA mission) image data.
Implications for water management
The AquaWatch test site in Venice allows water managers to track and validate water quality in real-time, helping:
- Support better decision-making for protecting the lagoon’s ecosystem.
- Inform sustainable management practices for local industries like aquaculture.
- Provide insights that can be applied to other coastal areas facing similar challenges.