The DANUBIUS-RI supersite of Po delta and North Adriatic Lagoons: a living lab on transitional environments in the Adriatic Sea

The International Centre for Advanced Studies on River-Sea Systems “DANUBIUS-RI” is a pan-European Research Infrastructure (RI) developed to support the Research and Innovation (R&I) needs to achieve healthy River-Sea Systems (RSSs). DANUBIUS-RI's Mission is: to facilitate and contribute to excellent science on the continuum river-sea; to offer state-of-the-art research infrastructure to develop a multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary dialogue between river and marine research communities; and to provide the integrated knowledge required to sustainably manage and protect RSs. The DANUBIUS-RI Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda surveyed the major needs from the research community, defining the RI Research Goals. DANUBIUS-RI superintends ten Supersites corresponding to the major European RSs. Each Supersite provides an integrated infrastructure made of optimized observational systems, modelling and forecasting systems, toolboxes, living labs, and services to investigate issues connected to the interaction processes between continental and marine systems. This paper describes the Italian Supersite “Po Delta and North Adriatic Lagoons (Venice and Marano-Grado)”, which focuses on coastal transitional environments within the RSs. We present the structure of the Supersite, the interconnections with the international Nodes, in particular the modeling and observational capability and the data management, and the strategy for teaming up an interconnected community of researchers and stakeholders. The infrastructure aims to enhance the observational (in-situ and remote) and modelling capability in the area for improving the quantification of water, sediment and nutrient loads from the rivers and their influence on the coastal zone. Data and information will form the basis of a digital representation of the Po Delta and North Adriatic Lagoons to support a set of services for managing the RSSs and advancing the blue growth in coastal zones.