Assessment of environmental conditions in Civitavecchia (Rome, Italy) harbour

Abstract

Harbours and maritime transport are essential for both local and national economic development creating wealth, jobs and attracting investment and resources. However, the presence of port infrastructures and associated activities such as vessel docking, handling and transport of goods, production of a great quantity of wastes and pollutants and periodical dredgings, generate significant environmental impacts on coastal ecosystems and seawater quality. Civitavecchia harbour (Rome, Italy) is the first Mediterranean cruise port with approximately 2.6 million passengers, characterized by intense traffic of ships engaged in the carriage of goods and persons and interested by continuous maintenance and expansion works to improve its receptive capacity. In this context a significant support is given from the availability of continuous measurement systems, which offer an important tool for marine monitoring, allowing the acquisition of physical, chemical and biological time series, fundamental prerogative to promptly verify any unexpected phenomena and process. The Laboratory of Experimental Oceanology and Marine Ecology (University of Tuscia) is strongly involved in the environmental monitoring of the Civitavecchia coastal area. In June 2012 a fixed station was installed on a dock of the Civitavecchia harbour performing repeated measurements of surface water temperature, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, pH, turbidity and chl-a fluorescence. Moreover, a weather station acquiring meteorological parameters www.witpress.com