The graphic below, provided by Statista , shows the maximum tide levels in Venice over 50 years. And experts are concerned that the project—which was initiated in —is not equipped to deal with the kinds of rising sea levels that are outlined in the IPCC's projections. The question is not if this will happen, but only when it will happen," the report read. But with 30 centimeters of sea level rise, they would have to close more than two times a week.
And with a centimeter rise, they would have to close once a day, for about a quarter of a year in total, which presents its own problems. Related Stories. Newsweek magazine delivered to your door Unlimited access to Newsweek. The pictures are misleading, however.
The major floods are destructive, of course. Whenever water breaks through the stone damp-courses that protect most Venetian buildings, it seeps into the porous brickwork. All over Venice, walls are dissolving. And if, with global warming, sea levels rise as they are projected to , the situation is going to get a lot worse.
Having an average depth of little over one metre, the Venetian lagoon is particularly vulnerable to the vagaries of the climate. Which is why the construction of a movable barrier across the entrances to the lagoon seems to many people the obvious way of averting calamity.
It might appear to be an obvious solution to the crisis. Yet Mose is a project that makes many Venetians despair, for various reasons. Work began in , more than 20 years after the scheme was submitted to central government, and is still incomplete.
Corruption, inevitably, is partly to blame. Many opponents of Mose alleged from the start that the scheme would be a gigantic palm-greasing exercise, and so it has proved. Built on a muddy lagoon with inadequate foundations, the ground beneath it has slowly compacted over time. This, combined with the groundwater being pumped out from under the city and a gradual rise in sea levels, has resulted in the city very slowly sinking. Underlying plate tectonics are also to blame, thanks to the subduction of the Adriatic plate beneath the Apennine mountains.
So, when will Venice sink? The retractable barrier system, called MOSE, is designed to close the barriers when tides reach 4. The winds were also stronger than predicted. Water swamped the church at Saint Marks Square, along with shops, restaurants, and other businesses in the surrounding areas. All 78 MOSE barriers can hypothetically protect the city from up to 10 feet of flooding, if they retract in time for a major storm.
MOSE had previously protected Venice from high tides in October, and it had been installed just after experiencing its worst tide yet in November , and unfortunately, it was expected by many to protect them for the foreseeable future. It's the same old problem.
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