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COVID-19 lockdown measures reveal human impact on water transparency in the Venice Lagoon.

ABSTRACT: The lagoon of Venice has always been affected by the regional geomorphological evolution, anthropogenic stressors and global changes. Different morphological settings and variable biogeophysical conditions characterize this continuously evolving system that rapidly responds to the anthropic impacts. When the lockdown measures were enforced in Italy to control the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 infection on March 10th 2020, the ordinary urban water traffic around Venice, one of the major pressures in the lagoon, came to a halt. This provided a unique opportunity to analyse the environmental effects of restrictions to mobility on water transparency. Pseudo true-colour composites Sentinel-2 satellite imagery proved useful for qualitative visual interpretation, showing the reduction of the vessel traffic and their wakes from the periods before and during the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak. A quantitative analysis of suspended matter patterns, based on satellite-derived turbidity, in the absence of traffic perturbations, allowed to focus on natural processes and the residual stress from human activities that continued throughout the lockdown. We conclude that the high water transparency can be considered as a transient condition determined by a combination of natural seasonal factors and the effects of COVID-19 restrictions.

SUBMITTER: Braga F

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7242204 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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COVID-19 lockdown measures reveal human impact on water transparency in the Venice Lagoon.

Braga Federica F Scarpa Gian Marco GM Brando Vittorio Ernesto VE Manfè Giorgia G Zaggia Luca L

The Science of the total environment 20200522

The lagoon of Venice has always been affected by the regional geomorphological evolution, anthropogenic stressors and global changes. Different morphological settings and variable biogeophysical conditions characterize this continuously evolving system that rapidly responds to the anthropic impacts. When the lockdown measures were enforced in Italy to control the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 infection on March 10th 2020, the ordinary urban water traffic around Venice, one of the major pressures in t ...[more]

PMID: 32470688

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Project description:Stringent lockdown measures implemented in Italy to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 are generating unprecedented economic impacts. However, the environmental consequences associated with the temporary shutdown and recovery of industrial and commercial activities are still not fully understood. Using the well-known carbon footprint (CF) indicator, this paper provides a comprehensive estimation of environmental effects due to the COVID-19 outbreak lockdown measures in Italy. Our aim was to quantify the CF associated with the consumption of energy by any economic activity and region in Italy during the lockdown, and then compare these environmental burdens with the CF calculated for analogous periods from 2015 to 2019 (~March and April). Complementarily, we also conducted a scenario analysis to estimate the post-lockdown CF impact in Italy. A consumption-based approach was applied according to the principles of the established Life Cycle Assessment method. The CF was therefore quantified as a sum of direct and indirect greenhouse gases (GHGs) released from domestically produced and imported energy metabolism flows, excluding the exports. Our findings indicate that the CF in the lockdown period is ~-20% lower than the mean CF calculated for the past. This means avoided GHGs in between ~5.6 and ~10.6 Mt CO2e. Results further suggest that a tendency occurs towards higher impact savings in the Northern regions, on average ~230 kt CO2e of GHGs avoided by province (against ~110-130 kt CO2e in central and Southern provinces). Not surprisingly, these are the utmost industrialized areas of Italy and have been the ones mostly affected by the outbreak. Despite our CF estimates are not free of uncertainties, our research offers quantitative insights to start understanding the magnitude generated by such an exceptional lockdown event in Italy on climate change, and to complement current scientific efforts investigating the relationships between air pollution and the spread of COVID-19.

Project description:BackgroundHow effective have lockdowns been at reducing the covid-19 infection and mortality rates? Lockdowns influence contact among persons within or between populations including restricting travel, closing schools, prohibiting public gatherings, requiring workplace closures, all designed to slow the contagion of the virus. The purpose of the present study was to assess the impact of lockdown measures on the spread of covid-19 and test a theoretical model of the covid-19 pandemic employing structural equation modelling.MethodsLockdown variables, population demographics, mortality rates, infection rates, and health were obtained for eight countries: Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, and the United Kingdom. The dataset, owid-covid-data.csv, was downloaded on 06/01/2020 from: https://github.com/owid/covid-19-data/tree/master/public/data. Infection spread and mortality data were depicted as logistic growth and analyzed with stepwise multiple regression. The overall structure of the covid-19 data was explored through factor analyses leading to a theoretical model that was tested using latent variable path analysis.ResultsMultiple regression indicated that the time from lockdown had a small but significant effect (β = 0.112, p< 0.01) on reducing the number of cases per million. The stringency index produced the most important effect for mortality and infection rates (β = 0.588,β = 0.702, β = 0.518, β = 0.681; p< 0.01). Exploratory and confirmatory analyses resulted in meaningful and cohesive latent variables: 1) Mortality, 2) Infection Spread, 3) Pop Health Risk, and 4) Health Vulnerability (Comparative Fit Index = 0.91; Standardized Root Mean Square Residual = 0.08).DiscussionThe stringency index had a large impact on the growth of covid-19 infection and mortality rates as did percentage of population aged over 65, median age, per capita GDP, diabetes prevalence, cardiovascular death rates, and ICU hospital beds per 100K. The overall Latent Variable Path Analysis is theoretically meaningful and coherent with acceptable fit indices as a model of the covid-19 pandemic.

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COVID-19 lockdown measures reveal human impact on water transparency in the Venice Lagoon.

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COVID-19 lockdown measures reveal human impact on water transparency in the Venice Lagoon.

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