A wave motion monitoring system is underway off the coast of Sicily

PALERMO – The i-waveNet project is underway, from tomorrow the Sicilian coasts will equip themselves with an integrated system for monitoring wave motion and sea currents, funded by the Interreg VA Italy-Malta Cooperation program, which sees the University of Palermo as leader , involves a partnership formed by Cnr, Ingv, Ispra, UniCT, University of Malta, Transport Malta and Ogs (Trieste).

The 30-month project has as its “main objective the development of a system action aimed at mitigating the effects of climate change (flooding from storm surges, coastal erosion) in the coastal areas between Sicily and Malta”, say the promoters of the ‘initiative.

And they explain: «in particular, an innovative monitoring network will be implemented based on the integration of different measurement technologies, such as HF radar antennas, micro-seismic sensors, sea level sensors, coastal weather stations and wave buoys. The Italian National Wave Network (Ron), in operation since 1987, was decommissioned in December 2014 due to maintenance problems of the buoys located in the sea. Since then Italy has been deprived of systematic measures of the wave motion ». P.

The final and operational product of the project will be a decision support system that will make it possible, “through the overlapping of several information layers, to provide the data necessary for the management of emergencies connected to climate change linked to risks from the sea”. One of the first contributions of the project is the restoration, by Ispra, of the Mazara del Vallo wave buoy which will be launched on Tuesday 30 March, off the Mazara coast on a seabed of about 100 m and will allow information to be provided in near-real time. on the wave motion of the sea not only to the technical-scientific community, but also to fishermen and other stakeholders.