Particulate matter and chemical-physical conditions of an inner sea: The Mar Piccolo in Taranto. A new statistical approach

Abstract As part of the environmental recovery plan for the Mar Piccolo (Ionian Sea), a basin suffering especially from urban pollution, a study was planned on the modifications induced by the human activities to distinguish them from those due to the alternation of the seasons and the exchanges with the neighbouring basin of Mar Grande. The present paper deals with the chemical-physical characteristics of sea water and its particulate matter content is investigated as a part of this study. The physical, chemical and biological variables (stochastic variables for the model) are: chlorophyll a , proteins, carbohydrates, organic matter, dry weight, temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, pH, ultraviolet absorbance, phosphate, nitrite, nitrate, ammonia, silicate, photosynthetically available radiation (PAR) and energy. These variables have been sampled at 15 different stations during one year of monthly sampling. A preliminary analysis was carried out on the variables for detecting possible interactions among all the investigated parameters. To this purpose, and for all the variables, an original computer program for non-parametric statistical-evaluation and data-correlation was used to find correlation-guided hierarchy of variables. The relations among: Prot and Chl- a , Carb and Chl- a and OM and DW have been studied. The slopes of linear regression of (Prot, Chl- a ) and (Carb, Chl- a ) allowed us to detect different relations at different space-time areas. A nonlinear relation between OM and DW has been found as well. This treatment is a first approach to the construction of a mathematical model of the basin. Different areas, for sea water characteristics, were observed to occur in the basin, despite its small extension. This may be due to the reduced water exchanges and the different residential development along the coast. Innermost areas, less involved in the water mass circulation, were more affected by eutrophication.