ROME, March 26. /TASS/. Venice could be completely submerged by 2150, according to one of the scenarios modeled within the framework of an international project of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, the RAI News 24 news channel reported.

According to the researchers' findings, the MOSE barrier system would not be enough to protect the city. The floods were modeled for the years 2050, 2100, and 2150. The worst-case scenario came in the mid-20th century, when an area between 139 square kilometers and 226 square kilometers could be flooded. "Without additional protective measures, this will lead to flooding and significant damage to both the local population and the cultural heritage of Venice," the scientists warn. They explain that the "high tide" effect, exacerbated by climate change, leads to a constant decline in land levels and absorption by the sea. Now the rate of this process reaches seven millimeters per year.

To prevent the disappearance of Venice, which is lined with more than 150 islands, a special mobile barrier system has been developed to block the lagoon during floods. A few years ago the MOSE dam, the construction of which was controversial because of its high cost, was put into operation and has been protecting Venice from "high water" for the last few years. The phenomenon of "high water," caused by the tides depending on the lunar cycle, is characteristic of the island part of Venice, which sits on a natural cushion of small islands in the lagoon of the Adriatic Sea. But the water periodically rises and floods St. Mark's Square a little.

German poet Johann Wolfgang Goethe wrote to his brother from a trip through the Apennines more than 200 years ago: "You must come to Venice urgently, in 50 years it will no longer exist."