| Session Details | |
| Section | IG - Interdisciplinary Geosciences |
| Session Title | Coastal Lagoons and Their Vulnerability to Climate Change and Natural Disasters |
| Main Convener | Dr. Georg Umgiesser (Institute of Marine Sciences (ISMAR) of the Italian National Research Council (CNR), Italy) |
| Co-convener(s) | Dr. Kaz Augustine Chikita (Hokkaido University, Japan) Dr. Yevgeniy Kontar (The University of Findlay & Federal GEOS Funding, Inc, United States) Dr. Gwynne Rife (The University of Findlay, United States) |
| Session Description | Lagoons are between the most productive areas of the whole world. This is the reason why lagoons are densely populated areas with many ongoing economic activities. Lagoons are strongly impacted by both the anthropogenic activities going on along the shores and the ocean shaping the environment. In its last report the IPCC has stressed the fact that most physical parameters (water level, temperature, salinity) will substantially change in the ocean. This change will have strong influences on the parameters inside the lagoons. Moreover, lagoons are highly vulnerable to natural disasters like storm surges and tsunamis. The Venice lagoon is heavily modified during strong storm surges, loosing eroded sediments to the nearby ocean. Tsunamis are able to change the whole morphology of lagoons in hours. How do lagoons change under changing climate? What are the key parameters that will detect these changes? How vulnerable are lagoons to this climate change and the occurrence of natural disasters? It is expected that some of these questions will be addressed in this session and that it will be possible to bring together international professionals interested in measuring and modeling lagoons and its interaction with the ocean. |