Research Stations

Mario Zucchelli Station (MZS)

Mario Zucchelli Station (MZS) is located at 74° 41′ S, 164° 6′ E, sitting on a granite promontory in Terra Nova Bay (Ross Sea - Antarctica) at 15 m above sea level.
The station was named in memory of Eng. Mario Zucchelli who coordinated the ENEA Unit for Antarctica (ENEA-UTA) for sixteen years. MZS has been operating since 1985 during the austral summer and supports all the research activities planned by the National Research Program in Antarctica (PNRA).
For more information refer to the www.pnra.aq website.

Concordia

Concordia Station (75°06’ S, 123°21’ E) is located on the Antarctic plateau at Dome C, which is 3,233 m above sea level and over 1000 km from the coast.
Construction of the station, supported by an intergovernmental agreement between Italy and France and the result of the collaboration between the PNRA and the French Polar Institute Paul Émile Victor (IPEV), was completed in 2005. Since then, Concordia is a permanent station jointly managed by PNRA and IPEV as part of their respective polar programs. For more information, visit the website www.pnra.aq.

Dirigibile Italia

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