SIMONE ZAZZINI

Dottore di ricerca

ciclo: XXXV



Titolo della tesi: Turbulent dispersion in the Ocean Surface Boundary Layer

The Ocean Surface Boundary Layer is where the atmosphere and the ocean interact and where the main exchanges of energy and matter take place. This layer is of considerable interest from an environmental point of view, as it is the area richest in flora and fauna, but also in pollutants. In particular, among these, the study of the dispersion of plastic fragments with dimensions smaller than 5 mm defined as microplastics (MP) is crucial. In fact, in recent years, the growing consumption of single-use plastics, the low recycling rate and the improper disposal of waste have resulted in a serious threat to the marine ecosystem and also to human health. Moreover, considering that there is a large mismatch between the estimates of the amount of plastic that enters the oceans and the total amount of plastic sampled at sea surface; for this particular pollutant, the study cannot be limited to the surface, but must also be extended to the entire water column. The study of MP dispersion in the mixed layer is tackled by the scientific community with numerical models, laboratory experiments and in situ measurement campaigns. Lagrangian models are very commonly used for this purpose, because they can explicitly take into account the different scales of turbulence and they are very often combined with parametric laws directly related to the travel time of the particles. The aim of this work is to develop a methodology to deduce the marine turbulence, exploitable for calculating the dispersion of pollutants in the marine environment; in particular, an innovative parameterization of the vertical turbulent diffusivity have been developed with the aim to consider the sub-grid turbulence occurring in the mixed layer, which is not completely resolved by oceanographic models. This similarity law is based on characteristic scales calculated from meteorological and operational oceanographical models. This parametrization of the vertical turbulence has been implemented in a 3D Lagrangian dispersion model, developed by the research team headed by Prof. Giovanni Leuzzi. The model has been validated by comparison with MP sampling data deriving from marine monitoring campaigns. With this Lagrangian model, long-term simulations have been conducted in a domain comprising the Tyrrhenian Sea. The simulations allowed to investigate the role of mean currents, sub-grid turbulence and, along the vertical direction, a rising/settling velocity in the MP displacements. Thus, the model allowed the analysis of the vertical distribution of microplastics along the water column as well as of beaches or seafloor zones subjected to accumulation. The results showed that vertical turbulent diffusivity is an essential factor for the vertical dispersion of microplastics within the mixed layer. Finally, it is observed that the rising/settling velocity assumes a key role in determining the accumulation of pollutants on the seafloor or on the surface, respectively.

Produzione scientifica

11573/1726385 - 2024 - Profili verticali della concentrazione di microplastiche lungo la colonna d'acqua
Pini, Agnese; Bello, Paolo; Zazzini, Simone; Monti, Paolo; Leuzzi, Giovanni - 04b Atto di convegno in volume
congresso: XXXIX Convegno Nazionale di Idraulica e Costruzioni Idrauliche - IDRA2024 (Parma)
libro: Atti del XXXIX Convegno Nazionale di Idraulica e Costruzioni Idrauliche - IDRA2024 - (979-12-210-6941-9)

11573/1664381 - 2022 - Discrete multivariate probability distributions of microplastic settling/rising velocity in the marine environment
Bello, P.; Pini, A.; Zazzini, S.; Monti, P.; Leuzzi, G. - 04b Atto di convegno in volume
congresso: 2022 IEEE International Workshop on Metrology for the Sea; Learning to Measure Sea Health Parameters, MetroSea 2022 (Milazzo Castle, Italia)
libro: 2022 IEEE International Workshop on Metrology for the Sea; Learning to Measure Sea Health Parameters, MetroSea 2022 - Proceedings - (978-1-6654-9942-2)

11573/1664377 - 2022 - Numerical investigation of microplastic dispersion in the water column
Pini, A.; Zazzini, S.; Bello, P.; Monti, P.; Leuzzi, G. - 04b Atto di convegno in volume
congresso: 2022 IEEE International Workshop on Metrology for the Sea; Learning to Measure Sea Health Parameters, MetroSea 2022 (Milazzo Castle, ita)
libro: 2022 IEEE International Workshop on Metrology for the Sea; Learning to Measure Sea Health Parameters, MetroSea 2022 - Proceedings - (978-1-6654-9942-2)

11573/1665953 - 2022 - Modellazione numerica della dispersione di microplastiche sulla colonna d'acqua
Pini, Agnese; Zazzini, Simone; Bello, Paolo; Monti, Paolo; Leuzzi, Giovanni - 04b Atto di convegno in volume
congresso: XXXVIII Convegno Nazionale di Idraulica e Costruzioni Idrauliche, IDRA 2022, Reggio Calabria 4-7 Settembre (Reggio Calabria)
libro: XXXVIII Convegno Nazionale di Idraulica e Costruzioni Idrauliche, IDRA 2022, Reggio Calabria 4-7 Settembre - (9788894379921)

11573/1665921 - 2022 - Studio della dispersione verticale di microplastiche in ambiente marino
Zazzini, Simone; Pini, Agnese; Bello, Paolo; Monti, Paolo; Leuzzi, Giovanni - 04b Atto di convegno in volume
congresso: XXXVIII Convegno Nazionale di Idraulica e Costruzioni Idrauliche, IDRA 2022, Reggio Calabria 4-7 Settembre (Reggio Calabria)
libro: XXXVIII Convegno Nazionale di Idraulica e Costruzioni Idrauliche, IDRA 2022, Reggio Calabria 4-7 Settembre - (9788894379921)

11573/1682787 - 2022 - 3D pathways and distribution of microplastics in the Ocean Surface Boundary Layer
Zazzini, Simone; Pini, Agnese; Bello, Paolo; Monti, Paolo; Leuzzi, Giovanni - 04d Abstract in atti di convegno
congresso: EGU General Assembly 2022 (Vienna)
libro: EGU General Assembly 2022 - ()

11573/1470646 - 2020 - Modelling VOC Emissions from Building Materials for Healthy Building Design
D’Amico, Alessandro; Pini, Agnese; Zazzini, Simone; D’Alessandro, Daniela; Leuzzi, Giovanni; Currà, Edoardo - 01a Articolo in rivista
rivista: SUSTAINABILITY (Basel : MDPI) pp. 184- - issn: 2071-1050 - wos: WOS:000606359200001 (15) - scopus: 2-s2.0-85098763029 (18)

11573/1415320 - 2020 - Microplastic detection and Lagrangian modelling in the Tyrrhenian Sea
Pini, Agnese; Tomassetti, Paolo; Matiddi, Marco; De Lucia, Giuseppe Andrea; Bello, Paolo; Zazzini, Simone.; Leuzzi, Giovanni; Monti, Paolo - 04b Atto di convegno in volume
congresso: 2019 IMEKO TC19 International Workshop on Metrology for the Sea: Learning to Measure Sea Health Parameters, MetroSea 2019 (Genoa; Italy)
libro: 2019 IMEKO TC19 International Workshop on Metrology for the Sea: Learning to Measure Sea Health Parameters, MetroSea 2019 - ()

11573/1665954 - 2020 - Modellazione numerica della dispersione di microplastiche nel Mar Mediterraneo Occidentale
Pini, Agnese; Zazzini, Simone; Leuzzi, Giovanni; Monti, Paolo - 04b Atto di convegno in volume
congresso: XXXVII Convegno Nazionale di Idraulica e Costruzioni Idrauliche, IDRA 2020, Reggio Calabria 7-9 Settembre (Reggio Calabria)
libro: XXXVII Convegno Nazionale di Idraulica e Costruzioni Idrauliche, IDRA 2020, Reggio Calabria 7-9 Settembre - (9788894379914)

11573/1415139 - 2020 - Turbulence changes due to a tidal stream turbine operation in the Pentland Firth (Scotland, UK)
Zazzini, S.; De Dominicis, M.; Pini, A.; Leuzzi, G.; Monti, P.; O'hara Murray, R.; Li, X. - 04b Atto di convegno in volume
congresso: 2019 IMEKO TC19 International Workshop on Metrology for the Sea: Learning to Measure Sea Health Parameters, MetroSea 2019 (Genoa, Italy)
libro: 2019 IMEKO TC19 International Workshop on Metrology for the Sea: Learning to Measure Sea Health Parameters, MetroSea 2019 - ()

11573/1665956 - 2020 - Stima dei flussi turbolenti verticali nello strato limite superficiale marino
Zazzini, Simone; Pini, Agnese; Leuzzi, Giovanni; Monti, Paolo - 04b Atto di convegno in volume
congresso: XXXVII Convegno Nazionale di Idraulica e Costruzioni Idrauliche, IDRA 2020, Reggio Calabria 7-9 Settembre (Reggio Calabria)
libro: XXXVII Convegno Nazionale di Idraulica e Costruzioni Idrauliche, IDRA 2020, Reggio Calabria 7-9 Settembre - (9788894379914)

11573/1415085 - 2019 - Tidal resource and environmental effects of energy extraction in the Pentland Firth: sensitivity to array layouts and turbulence changes
Zazzini, Simone; De Dominicis, Michela; Leuzzi, Giovanni; O'hara Murray, Rory; Li, Xiaorong; Pini, Agnese - 04b Atto di convegno in volume
congresso: 13th European Wave and Tidal Energy 2019 (Napoli)
libro: Proceeding of the 13th European Wave and Tidal Energy Conference 1-6 sept, 2019, Naples Italy - ()

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