For the first time the MOSE System is officially activated
On the 3rd of October the Mose System, a mile long network of barriers in Venice, was activated for the first time to stop a 130 cm high tide. The “Modulo Sperimentale Elettromeccanico (MOSE)” is made up of 78 separate gates which can be raised to protect the city from tides.
The MOSE is located in the inlets of Lido, Malamocco and Chioggia, it has been designed to attenuate the levels of the most frequent tides and the rise of the banks and pavements. The system is designed as a defense to protect the quality of the water, the morphology, the natural landscape and the port activity. The MOSE is formed by a series of barriers consisting of mobile gates located at the inlets.
When they are inactive, the floodgates rest on the seabed, completely hidden, with the hollow section completely flooded with sea water. In case of high tide air pressure is injected in the floodgates hollow section to substitute water with air, allowing the floodgates to rotate on their axes and emerge from the seabed, creating a defensive barrier that stops the tide. The floodgates remain active only for the length of the high tide event.
The preliminary project has been assigned to the University of Architecture in Venice to design the insertion of the defense system in the lagoon landscape, taking in account the historical evolution of the natural landscape.
