New evidence of a Roman road in the Venice Lagoon (Italy) based on high resolution seafloor reconstruction

Abstract

This study provides new evidence of the presence of an ancient Roman road in correspondence to a paleobeach ridge now submerged in the Venice Lagoon (Italy). New high resolution underwater seafloor data shed new light on the significance of the Roman remains in the lagoon. The interpretation of the data through archive and geo-archaeological research allowed a three-dimensional architectural reconstruction of the Roman road. The presence of the ancient Roman road confirms the hypothesis of a stable system of Roman settlements in the Venice Lagoon. The study highlights the significance of this road in the broader context of the Roman transport system, demonstrating once more the Roman ability to adapt and to handle complex dynamic environments that were often radically different from today.

Evaluation of Satellite-Derived Bathymetry from High and Medium-Resolution Sensors Using Empirical Methods

“…Lyzenga followed the fundamental principle derived from the Beer-Lambert law. Lyzenga developed a linear method which assumes that the reflection at the bottom is a linear function of the reflectance of the seabed with the exponential function of the depth of water [5,6,30,43]. The estimation of the depth from a single band depends on the albedo and can be made using the following equation:…”

“…This section presents the overall results generated from the different methods and datasets described above. The Equations ( 4)- (6) were implemented to all different multispectral datasets. Due to the specificity of the study area, the combinations of all visible bands with all algorithms mentioned above were analyzed using the three optical images.…”

“…Monitoring of coastal areas is, thus, of great importance to implement sustainable coastal development and ecosystem protection strategies [1][2][3]. High spatiotemporal resolution and a vertical accuracy topographic and bathymetric data are also essential not only for understanding coastal systems evolution [2], but also for other environmental applications, such as benthic habitat mapping [4], seabed geomorphology [5], underwater archaeology [6], monitoring of coastal morphological changes, navigation, and fishing [7].…”

Global Satellite-Based Coastal Bathymetry from Waves

“…Overall, this missing bathymetry information limits our ability to understand and predict coastal evolution which on its own inherently leads to large uncertainties in predicting hazards such as coastal sea states, storm surges, and wave-induced surges and flooding [4][5][6]. The availability of fast, inexpensive, and efficient methods is also needed for studies of bottom variability, such as sandy shoreface or underwater dune dynamics but also some environmental applications such as benthic habitat mapping [7], seabed geomorphology [8], underwater archaeology [9], and exploration of unexploded ordnance [10]. There is currently a growing demand for coastal monitoring, where coastal bathymetry is of critical importance [11,12].…”