An integrated hydrodynamic dispersion modelling system for marine discharge analysis

An integrated hydrodynamic-dispersion modeling system has been developed in order to evaluate the concentration of coliform bacteria due to a submerged discharge into the Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy. The community model POM (Princeton Ocean Model) was used to simulate the hydrodynamic field in a large area including the discharge. The Visual Plumes model was adopted to simulate the first phase of the discharge, while the Lagrangian dispersion model LASEMOD (LAgrangian SEa MODel) was used to investigate the temporal and spatial evolution of the polluted plume. The results show that the velocity field which characterizes the investigated area affects strongly the fate of the polluted waters and, therefore, the concentration of coliform bacteria along the coastline.