Dirigibile Italia is one of the multidisciplinary research stations managed by the CNR, providing support to numerous national and international research projects. The station, inaugurated in 1997, is located in the village of Ny-Ålesund (78°55' N, 11°56' E), on Spitsbergen Island, in the Svalbard archipelago. It is from there that the polar expedition of t General Umberto Nobile set off in 1928, and the station is named in its honour. The Department of Earth System Sciences and Technologies for the Environment (DSSTTA) of the CNR managed the station in the past, but is has now been assigned to the Institute of Polar Sciences (July 2020).
The station participates in the INTERACT and SIOS access programs, making its spaces and means available to countries that do not have access to the Arctic so they can carry out research projects.
It is also included in the Forum of Arctic Operators FARO, a country membership organization that promotes dialogue on logistics and operational support for scientific research in the Arctic.
 
Dirigibile Italia is a 323 m² structure, 170 of which are used as laboratories and offices; it can accommodate up to 7 people.
The base is open throughout the year to provide support to research activities.
Among the services that the base provides are:
 • 6 beds for staff;
 • a chemistry laboratory equipped with a laminar flow hood and an extraction hood, a precision balance, ultrapure water dispenser, freezer and more;
 • other workspaces;
 • an equipped electronics and mechanics laboratory;
 • an internal warehouse space for storing material;
 • 3 snowmobiles for winter and spring shifts, equipped with trolleys for transporting material, as well as the necessary suits, boots and helmets;
 • 3 fat-bikes with trolley for summer shifts;
 • 5 VHF radios for communication between people in the field and for their safety.

  - Contact: stationleader.arctic AT cnr.it
  - Station Welcome page
  - Facebook page of the Research Station
  

Brief description
The experimental activities carried out at the BioChem Lab in Rome are focused on the study of the effects of legacy and emerging organic micropollutants on organisms belonging to different levels of the trophic web (from microbial communities to higher organisms) in the context of ongoing climate change. The analytical determinations on the biota are aimed at evaluating bioaccumulation and biomagnification processes of target pollutants. Other studies performed at the BioChem Lab focus on:
  - The degradation rates (evaluation of the half-life time - DT50 - and determination of metabolites or transformation products of target compounds) of the organic contaminants by setting up laboratory-scale experiments.
  - Evaluate the effects of organic micropollutants on specific target organisms (e.g. avoidance behaviour test in Eisenia foetida) and on the structure (PhosphoLipid Fatty Acid analysis-PLFA) and function (Community Level Physiological Profile - CLPP) of autochthonous microbial communities, through the preparation of laboratory-scale experiments and environmental monitoring.
  - Investigate the occurrence and diffusion of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and the intI1 gene which is an anthropogenic impact proxy, among natural microbial communities related to the presence of antibiotics in environmental matrices.

Environmental compartments
The bioaccumulation/biomagnification studies of organic micropollutants involve biota such as fish, molluscs, terrestrial and aquatic earthworms and terrestrial and aquatic plant species. The studies on persistence and effects of pollutants on natural microbial communities are related to different environmental compartments such as surface waters and sediments (seas, rivers, lakes), snow/ice and soils.

Analytical techniques
Studies on bioaccumulation/biomagnification/persistence of organic contaminants are performed by a combination of:
  - Pre-treatment methods (e.g. freeze-drying, filtration, etc.).
  - Extraction/Clean-up methods (solid-phase extraction-SPE, pressurized liquid extraction-PLE, liquid-liquid extraction-LL).
  - Sensitive and selective analytical methods based on the coupling of chromatographic techniques (HPLC or GC) and fluorescence, FID-ECD, and mass spectrometric (MS) detection.
  - The avoidance behaviour test is based on the exposure of organisms, specifically earthworms belonging to the Eisenia foetida species, to different sub-lethal concentrations of organic contaminants, to evaluate their escape/avoidance behaviour in the contaminated area.
  - The evaluation of the composition of natural microbial communities is carried out by PLFA (PhosphoLipid Fatty Acid) profiling. This biochemical technique includes the extraction of fatty acids from microbial membrane phospholipids in the environmental matrix and a methylation reaction followed by separation and analysis with gas chromatography.
  - The analysis of microbial diversity at a functional level is performed by the determination of the metabolic/physiological profile (CLPP). This physiological assay involves the incubation of the environmental sample in specific plates and spectrophotometric measurements at fixed times.
  - The analysis of ARGs and intI1 gene is performed by DNA extraction from the environmental samples by using specific kits and subsequent analysis by qPCR.

Equipment
The BioChem Lab is equipped with the following analytical tools:
 
Benchtop lyophilizer (freeze-dryer LABCONCO) 2.5 L capacity, equipped with a touchscreen display, for the pre-treatment of solid matrices subsequently extracted with PLE.
 
Solid Phase Extraction (SPE):12 inlets of the solid phase extractor are connected to cartridges packed with specific adsorbents for the extraction of target compounds from liquid matrices through a vacuum system.
 
Syncore® Analyst (Buchi) for the simultaneous pre-concentration of liquid phase samples.
 
Rotavapor R 100 (Buchi), equipped with an electronic interface to control the vacuum system and the recirculating chiller.
 
Gas Chromatograph (Perkin Elmer, Clarus 480) coupled to a FID-ECD detector (Flame Ionization Detector- Electron Capture Detector). The instrument is connected to an autosampler (Autosystem, Perkin Elmer) and is controlled by TotalChrom Software.
 
Gas chromatograph (Thermo Fisher, Trace 3000) coupled to a mass spectrometry (MS) detector (Thermo Fisher, ISQ7000). The device is connected to an autosampler (Thermo Fisher. AI 1310) and is controlled by a Chromeleon software.
 
HPLC (quaternary pump, column Oven mod. LC-100 and Micro Pump Series 200, Perkin Elmer, USA) coupled to a fluorescence detector (Perkin Elmer Series 200a). The device is controlled by Chromeleon Software.
 
HPLC (binary pump, Vanquish TM Core HPLC system, Thermo Scientific TM, Italy) coupled to a high-resolution mass spectrometer (Orbitrap Exploris 120, Thermo Scientific TM, Italy). The device is controlled by XcaliburSoftware (version 5.1).
 
Spectrophotometer (Biolog Microstation System, Biolog Inc.) for the reading of microplates (96 positions). This instrument is controlled by specific software.
 
Contact person: Dr. Luisa Patrolecco – luisa.patrolecco AT cnr.it

Brief description
The experimental activities carried out at the MicroChem Lab in Rome focus on the analytical determination of legacy and emerging organic micropollutants and their metabolites, in order to understand their diffusion, distribution, persistence dynamics and fate in the environment. The studies performed at the MicroChem Lab aim also to study the relationships between the climate change and the spread of contaminants at global and local scale. For these purposes, the development and optimization of highly specific and sensitive analytical methodologies for the detection of chemicals at trace and sub-trace concentration levels in the environmental matrices, is required.

Environmental compartments
The experimental activities focus on aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, therefore the environmental matrices of interest are: Surface waters and sediments (seas, rivers, lakes), snow/ice, soils, aquatic and terrestrial vegetation, biota.

Analytical techniques
The analytical determination of the organic micropollutants is performed by the combination of:
  - Pre-treatment methods (e.g. freeze-drying, filtration, etc.);
  - Extraction/Clean up methods (solid-phase extraction-SPE, pressurized liquid extraction-PLE, liquid-liquid extraction-LL);
  - Sensitive and selective analytical methods based on the coupling of chromatographic techniques (HPLC or GC) with fluorescence, FID-ECD and mass spectrometry detection.

Equipment
The MicroChem Lab is equipped with the following analytical tools:
 
Benchtop lyophilizer (freeze-dryer LABCONCO) 2.5 L capacity, equipped with a touchscreen display, for the pre-treatment of solid matrices subsequently extracted with PLE.
 
Solid Phase Extraction (SPE): 12 inlets solid phase extractor connected to cartridges packed with specific adsorbents for the extraction of target compounds from liquid matrices through a vacuum system.
 
Sonicator (Branson, mod. 2510) for the extraction of chemical compounds from solid matrices by using suitable solvents.
 
ASE 150 (Dionex, Thermo Scientific) to perform pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) of organic pollutants from solid matrices.
 
Speed Extractor E-916 (Buchi) to perform simultaneous pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) of 6 samples, operating in different modes.
 
Rotavapor R 100 (Buchi), equipped with an electronic interface to control the vacuum system and the recirculating chiller.
 
Gas chromatograph (Thermo Fisher, Trace 3000) coupled to mass spectrometry (MS) detector (Thermo Fisher, ISQ7000). The device is connected to an autosampler (Thermo Fisher. AI 1310) and is controlled by a Chromeleon software.
 
HPLC (quaternary pump, column Oven mod. LC-100 and Micro Pump Series 200, Perkin Elmer, USA) coupled to a fluorescence detector (Perkin Elmer Series 200a). The device is controlled by a Chromeleon Software.
 
HPLC (binary pump, Vanquish TM Core HPLC system, Thermo Scientific TM, Italy) coupled to a high-resolution mass spectrometer (Orbitrap Exploris 120, Thermo Scientific TM, Italy). The device is controlled by XcaliburSoftware (version 5.1).
 
Contact person: Dr.Luisa Patrolecco – luisa.patrolecco AT cnr.it

The Amundsen-Nobile Climate Change Tower (CCT) is a scientific platform dedicated to studying the thermodynamic characteristics of the atmospheric boundary layer and the exchange processes between the surface and the lower layers of the atmosphere. The structure is composed of 17 modules equipped with patch boxes to provide a power supply and data connection that ends in a dedicated hut at 40 m from the tower, where the acquisition systems are located. The CCT provides continuous profiles of meteorological parameters at four levels up to 34 m, measurements of turbulent fluxes of momentum heat and moisture at two levels as well as of radiation balance components (visible and infrared). Measurement of the characteristics of the snow layer (depth and temperature) are also provided in conjunction with the atmospheric parameters.

Due to the uniqueness of such an infrastructure in Ny-Ålesund, since 2012, the CCT and the surrounding area have become a point of reference for the integrated observation of the components of the climate system. Offering access to national and international research groups, new scientific installations have been set up. In particular for the measurement of greenhouse gases (in collaboration with KOPRI); for the measurement of the snow cover index and spectral reflectivity of the snow; for remote sensing of wind profiles with SODAR and WindLIDAR (in collaboration with KOPRI); to study processes in the active layer, the vegetation, the snow cover and the permafrost temperature profiles.

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