ItalyPointsofContact: ConsiglioNazionaledelleRicerche(CNR),DepartmentofEarthSystemScienceandEnvironmentalTechnologies(http://dta.cnr.it)

ArcticResearchPolicyandGoalsItaly’s Arctic policy is to increase knowledge of Arcticchange, its impacts and feedbacks, through scientificmonitoring,multidisciplinaryresearch,andbyenhancinginternational scientific cooperation. This policy is statedintheItalianArcticStrategicagendaandisimplementedby Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (Italian NationalResearchCouncil,CNR),incollaborationwithuniversitiesand research organizations, including the Italian SpaceAgency (ASI), Istituto Nazionale di Oceanogafia e

Geofisica Sperimentale (OGS), Istituto Nazionale diGeofisicaeVulcanologia(INGV)andtheNationalAgencyforNewtechnologies,EnergyandSustainableEconomicDevelopment (ENEA). Italy’s overarchingArctic researchgoal is togaintheknowledgeneededforunderstandingclimate change in order to mitigate its impacts, toincrease thr resilience of natural systems and society,andenableasustainable,ecosystem-basedmanagementofnaturalresourcesintheregion.

MainArcticResearchFunders

ItalianMinistryofEducation,UniversitiesandResearch(MIUR, http://www.istruzione.it) supports research andinnovation in the polar regions. This involves scientificresearch in the Arctic and Antarctica. Since 2018, inaddition to usual funding instruments (PNRA, premiali,PRIN), MIUR will have a dedicate Programme for theArctic(PRA),managedthroughCNR.

Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) – The ItalianNational Research Council (https://www.cnr.it/en)supports research activities in the Arctic, in particularthosecarriedoutattheCNRArcticStationDirigibileItalia.These include atmospheric and climate change studies,geology and geophysics, marine and terrestrialecosystems, and paleoclimate and marine environmentstudies in the Kongsfjord, in the Svalbard Islands(Norway).

Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI) – ASI (http://www.asi.it)uses various satellite constellations, including theCOSMO-SkyMed, to support observational research alsoin the Arctic. Topics include sea-ice, permafrost andenvironmental monitoring as well as surveillanceapplications to manage and respond to natural andanthropogenichazards.

Ministero degli Affari Esteri e della CooperazioneInternazionale (http://www.esteri.it/mae/it) supportsinternationalcollaborativeresearchprojectsintheArctic.

Istituto Nazionale di Oceanogafia e GeofisicaSperimentale (OGS) supports Arctic oceanographicresearch,inparticularalongFramStraitandSpitzbergen.

MajorArcticResearchInitiativesCCT-IP. The Climate Change Tower Integrated ProjectinvestigatesArcticatmosphericboundarylayerdynamics,surfaceenergybudgetandfluxes,andtherolesplayedbycomplex coupling processes involving air, aerosols,clouds,snow,iceandland(permafrostandvegetation).

ReCAPandEastGRIP.Theseprojectsaimatcollectingicecores from the eastern and north-east sectors ofGreenlandtoreconstructatmosphericconditions(backtotheEamianand50kyBP,respectively),investigateoceanrelated process (sea ice extent, primary production)understandtheiceflowdynamicsandthechangesin iceflowvelocitythatmaybeinducedbythewarmingoftheGreenlandicesheet.

MELT. Using an internationally cooperative approach, isproposed as key element of a pan-Arctic observingnetwork, aimed at Monitoring and InvEstigating ArcticChange along a Longitudinal Transect are to strengthenand integrate Arctic observations to better understandtheinterconnectedprocessesinvolvedinclimatechange.

DEFROST investigatesthetemporalandspatialvariabilityofthedeepflowinthesouthwesternregionoffSvalbardis anareawherewatermasseswithdifferentpropertiesinteracteachother.SideprojectSOAaimsatvalorisingall

oceanographic data collected in the area and combinewithmeteorologicaldatatoinvestigatecorrelations.

DRAFT (Damping Role of Arctic Fjords in the climaTechange)andSNOW(SensorNetworkforOceanographyinShallow Water). The major aim of these joint CNRprojectsistocollecttimeseriesofoceanographicdatainKongsfiord using permanently mooring arrays tounderstandhowclimatechangeisaffectingfjordsystems,andhowtheeffectsofthischangemaybemitigated.

METROLOGY FOR THE ARCTIC Metrology andenvironmental science communities, cooperate todevelop inproved and dedicated calibration procedures,assess the responseof instruments and sensors topolarconditions, evaluate uncertainty of field measurements,alsoimplementingametrologylaboratoryinNy-Ålesund.

ACZ-DYNAMICS. Comparing Arctic sites, intendsinvestigate changes in the Arctic Critical Zone (CZ), andrelatedimpactsonecosystemfunctioningandassociatedbiogeochemical fluxes, in particular the contribution oflandecosystemstotheCarbon(C)budget.

C3. Italy takepart to this international,multi-disciplinaryand multi-year program whose overarching goal is toconstrain the linkagesbetweenClimate,Cryosphere (seaiceandcoastalpermafrost)andCarbonreleasefromthesediment up to the atmosphere (as GHG) in the EastSiberianArcticOcean(ESAO).

ArcticResearchInfrastructures FieldStationsCNR Arctic Station ‘Dirigibile Italia’. The Arctic station(http://arcticnode.dta.cnr.it/welcome), located at Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard, is amultidisciplinary research stationoperatedbyCNRthatcanhostuptosevenscientistsinitslaboratories and offices. Active since 1997, it is namedafter the Umberto Nobile’s airship Italia expedition of1928.

TheCNRArcticStationDirigibileItalia–Ny-Ålesund,Svalbard(Photo:GiuseppePellegrino).

The Amundsen-Nobile Climate Change Tower is a CNR-operatedfacilityconnectedtotheItalianArcticStationinNy-Ålesund.Thetoweris33mhighandisequippedwithinstrumentstoinvestigateamongothersurfaceradiationandenergybudgetsandPBLdynamics.

TheAmundsen-NobileClimateChangeTowerduringmaintenance(Photo:FabioGiardi).

Gruvebadet Atmospheric Laboratory, also connected tothe Italian Arctic Station, and operated by CNR and theUniversity of Florence, is a modern laboratory withatmosphericandaerosolinstruments.

Thule Observatory Inside THAAO Observatory, Italyoperates an aerosol/temperature lidar, a water vaporemission spectrometer (VESPA-22), as well as radiationandaerosolmeasurementsatsurface.

SatelliteObservations COSMO-SkyMed is an ASI satellite constellationconsistingoffourmedium-sizesatellitesequippedwithamicrowavehigh-resolutionsyntheticapertureradar(SAR)operatinginX-band.

VesselsItalyisintheprocesstoacquiringapolarresearchvesselequipped forgeophysicalandoceanographic research toserveinAntarcticaandintheArctic.

OtherinfrastructuresSIOS (Svalbard Integrated Arctic Earth ObservingSystem). Italy is Funding Member of SIOS, a LargeResearchInfrastructuresincludedinESFRIroadmap.SIOS,coordinates and develops existing and new researchinfrastructure in Svalbard, supporting a pan-Arcticobserving system. SIOS also coordinates open data,transnationalaccess,logisticsandtraining. ItalianArcticDataCenter.Thisinteroperabledatacentermanages Arctic data and observations. The center isoperated by CNR in cooperation with all other ItalianresearchInstitutions,anditsstronglyconnectedwithSIOSDataManagementSystem(SDMS).