Coincident application of a mass balance of radium and a hydrodynamic model for the seasonal quantification of groundwater flux into the Venice Lagoon, Italy.

A mass balance of the naturally occurring short-lived radium isotopes - 223, 224 in the Venice Lagoon was conducted by an integrated approach combining the directly estimated individual Ra contributions and hydrodynamic model results. Hydrodynamic data allows for the calculation of the Ra mass balance in sub-sections of the Venice Lagoon (boxes), which are characterized by physically homogeneous properties, instead of investigating the entire lagoon. Utilizing this method, both the seasonal and the spatial variability of the submarine groundwater discharge in the Venice Lagoon have been estimated. The submarine groundwater discharge estimates were correlated with the residence time calculation to better understand spatial and seasonal variation.