Residence Time Analysis in the Albufera of Valencia, a Mediterranean Coastal Lagoon, Spain

Abstract

The Albufera of Valencia is a coastal lagoon located in the western area of the Mediterranean Sea, in the Iberian Peninsula. It has an area of 23.1 km2 and an average depth of only 1 m, with a maximum depth of 1.6 m. This lagoon is the remnants of an original and more extensive wetland of about 220 km2 which is now mostly dedicated to rice cultivation. Surface water is supplied through several main and many secondary canals for a total of 64 water entry points and three exit points to the sea. It is difficult to evaluate the residence time due to the lack of reliable measurements of the inflow or outflow, as well as continuous measurements. Between 1988 and 2018, several procedures were used, the results of which are outlined in this document. Overall, a decrease in the inflow during these thirty years was observed and, therefore, it can be concluded that the residence time is increasing. There is a temporal variation during the year due to rainfall and cultivation periods. Likewise, the results found that the natural hydrological zoning of the lagoon causes a spatial heterogeneity with small Northern areas with low residence time of 4.7 days, almost on a weekly basis and large Western extensions with high residence time of 222.9 days. It is impossible to know this information if individual flow measurements are not taken from each of the main watercourses.