Polar and remote area research is supported not only by permanent stations but also by a series of observatories, that is, by permanent or semi-permanent infrastructures designed to allow for long-term, often automated, measurements.
Eight observatories report to the Institute of Polar Sciences, in various capacities: 6 in polar regions, of which 4 in the Arctic (Climate Change Tower, Gruvedabet and 2 Mooring: Kongfjorden and Storfjorden) and 2 in Antarctica (BSRN Station and Mooring del Ross Sea), and 2 in non-polar regions, of which 1 in the high altitude region (Col Margherita) and 1 in the Adriatic Sea (Mooring Southern Adriatic, MSA).