Author(s): Ivana Lucin; Marta Alvir; Ante Sikirica; Sinisa Druzeta; Vanja Travas; Lado Kranjcevic

Linked Author(s):

Keywords: Bathing water quality; Submarine Groundwater Discharge (SGD); Remote sensing

Abstract: Rainfall runoff can be a major pollution contributor, especially after long periods without rain. In the karst terrain, this phenomenon is especially important due to the lack of protective cover and the existence of welldeveloped underground channels which enable fast pollution transport to coastal areas. Submarine groundwater discharges (SGD) can be pollution contributors at bathing locations and due to their intermittent outflow it is difficult to provide their proper characterization. An established relationship between rainfall amount and SGD discharge would be greatly beneficial since it could be used in the prediction of bathing water quality. In this research, remote sensing methodology is explored for the possible usage for localization and characterization of SGDs. The results show that thermal cameras could be successfully used to localize SGDs, which motivated further research in the laboratory setting. The first investigation was conducted with a recording of the water surface under the influence of a submerged discharge. FUDAA-LSPIV software was used to identify surface velocities, where the possibility of establishing a correlation between surface velocities and discharge values needs to be further explored. A second laboratory investigation was conducted with an experiment in which dyed tap water was injected into the recipient water of a higher temperature. Surface temperatures were recorded with the thermal camera. The idea was to correlate the parameters of the plume surface with the discharge. Preliminary results show that both proposed methodologies can be practically employed, although further investigation is needed.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3850/978-90-833476-1-5_iahr40wc-p1012-cd

Year: 2023