CNR Arctic Station “Dirigibile Italia”

STATION NAME AND OWNER

The Italian ArcticDefinitions of the Arctic vary according to environmental, geographical, political, cultural and scientific perspectives. Some scientists define the Arctic as areas having a high latitude, long winters, short, cool summers,... More Station “Dirigibile Italia”, was so named in honour of Umberto Nobile’s airship expedition of 1928. The Station, owned by the National Research Council of Italy (CNR) and opened in 1997, is a multidisciplinary research facility. The activities are coordinated and managed by the Institute of Polar Science (ISP) of the Department of Earth Sciences and Technology of the Environment of the CNR.

LOCATION

The Station is located in Ny-Ålesund, on the shores of Kongsfjorden, on the west coast of Spitzbergen, the largest island of the Svalbard archipelago. The area around the village is geographically diverse and complex, including the fjord with several islands, a plateau, alluvial plains, mountains with large glaciers and extensive moraine systems, glacial rivers, coastal lagoons, and a small lake. The area further includes ornithological reserves and a nature reserve.

BIODIVERSITY AND NATURAL ENVIRONMENT

Ny-Ålesund enjoys the mildest climateThe average weather we would expect over a long period of time (seasons, years, decades). Climate varies from place-to-place across the Earth. Climate is determined by long-term (over at least... More at this latitude due to a distant branch of the Gulf Stream bordering the west coast of Spitzbergen. The faunaThe animals that live in a particular region, habitat or time (such as geological period like the jurassic). For plants, we use the term flora, and to collectively refer to all... More is dominated by a large variety of birds, including arcticDefinitions of the Arctic vary according to environmental, geographical, political, cultural and scientific perspectives. Some scientists define the Arctic as areas having a high latitude, long winters, short, cool summers,... More terns, auks, kittiwakes, gulls, barnacle geese, northern fulmars, Svalbard ptarmigans, and ArcticDefinitions of the Arctic vary according to environmental, geographical, political, cultural and scientific perspectives. Some scientists define the Arctic as areas having a high latitude, long winters, short, cool summers,... More skuas. Mammals include Svalbard reindeer, arcticDefinitions of the Arctic vary according to environmental, geographical, political, cultural and scientific perspectives. Some scientists define the Arctic as areas having a high latitude, long winters, short, cool summers,... More foxes, and a sporadic presence of polar bears, also seals and less frequently whales, are spotted in the fjord. The permafrostPermafrost is frozen ground that remains at or below zero degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit) for two or more years. It forms in regions where the mean annual temperature is... More is continuous and 75-450 m thick, and the active layerThe layer of ground above permafrost that is subject to annual thawing and freezing.... More thickness ranges between 0.3 and 3.8 m. The whole area lies within the Dryas octopetala zone of the high-arctic fell-field vegetation.

HISTORY AND FACILITIES

The Station was established in 1997, focusing the research activities mainly to study the chemistryThe study of matter at the atomic and molecular scale.... More of the snow, trace gases and aerosols in the atmosphere. Since 2009 with three new infrastructures belonging to the Station, the research has considerably improved. The Station can provide accommodation for seven persons, access to the laboratory, basic equipment for aerosol treatment, oven, milliq pure water, freezer refrigerator and laminar flow hood. Other facilities belonging to the Station consist of a 35m high tower, named ‘Admundsen-Nobile Climate Change Tower (CCT) and the Gruvebadet Aerosol Laboratory (GAL). CCT is equipped with instruments investigating energy budget and flux exchanges at the atmosphere land interface, while GAL is equipped with instrument for sampling aerial pollutants and particles and gases Another facility belonging to Dirigibile Italia is the Metrology Laboratory, where calibration of temperature sensors and gas analyzer are provide. Scientist belonging to Dirigibile Italia can also access at the Ny-Ålesund Marine Laboratory, managed by King Bay AS, for research in marine ecologyThe study of living organisms in their environment, including where they are found and how they interact with their physical environment and with each other, for example through food webs.... More, physiology, and biochemistry.

GENERAL RESEARCH AND DATABASES

Research is coordinated by the Ny-Ålesund Science Managers Committee (NySMAC) and the Svalbard Science Forum (SSF). Scientific programmes currently developed at the Station deals with physic and chemistryThe study of matter at the atomic and molecular scale.... More of the atmosphere and snow, microbial ecologyThe study of living organisms in their environment, including where they are found and how they interact with their physical environment and with each other, for example through food webs.... More and evolution, nutrients and ecosystems, biogeochemistry and energy fluxes, clouds, aerosols, gases, contaminants and pollutant, airborne spores of fungi and pollen and bacteria, soil, soil vegetation and permafrost, oceanography, marine biomarkers, remote sensing of the environment, sun-earth relations and space weather, human biology and medicine. Information on data collected are managed by the Italian ArcticDefinitions of the Arctic vary according to environmental, geographical, political, cultural and scientific perspectives. Some scientists define the Arctic as areas having a high latitude, long winters, short, cool summers,... More Data Center (IADC) that allows the access to the metadata recorded by the Italian research group. Continuous automatically recorded data (i.e. at CCT) can be visualized and downloaded at IADC (http://iadc.cnr.it). As CNR is also partner of the Research infrastructure SIOS, data will be accessible also by SDMS (https://sios-svalbard.org/metadata_search).

HUMAN DIMENSION

Ny-Ålesund was a mining village until 1963 with more than 100 inhabitants. Due to accident the mining activity was closed and during the 90’s the village was transformed into a multidisciplinary science settlement. Today 14 research Stations are established from 12 different nations. The population range from 35 people, involved in the maintenance activities during dark season, to more than 150 for scientific fieldwork in summer time. The entire settlement is owned and operated under the Norwegian law by the company of King’s Bay AS.

ACCESS

Regular flights between Ny-Ålesund and Longyearbyen take place four times per week in summer and twice per week in winter. There is an international airport in Longyearbyen with scheduled connections to mainland Norway. Ny-Ålesund can be reached also by boat. Sailing in the fjord is possible for people at the station through agreements with the Sverdrup Station of the Norwegian Polar Institute and with King’s Bay AS. In winter and spring snowmobiles are available for field trips. In summer, hiking is the only mean of transport in the field outside the village.

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