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Research associate at CNR-ISP, Bologna.
B.Sc. in Geology (2014) at the University of Bologna, M.Sc. degree (2016) in Earth Sciences at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich), Switzerland and PhD (2021) in geochemistry at ETH Zurich and the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz, Germany.
His research is centred around the study of biogeochemical cycling of nutrients in the modern marine environment, and their reconstruction in the geological past. His study addresses some fundamentals aspects of the nitrogen cycle and its interconnections with the trophic structure of marine food webs and ocean oxygenation. In particular, he works on the development and application of geochemical methods aimed at analysis and interpretation of the nitrogen isotope composition (15N/14N) of organic matter trapped within the biomineral crystalline matrix of fossils and modern organisms, as well as on organic matter from phytoplankton and zooplankton and seawater nitrate.
He has been studying and working in research institutes abroad for a total of 8 years and he is currently associated as a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry. He is involved in 8 publications on international journals, 2 chapters books of the International Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) and 17 abstracts. He obtained a scholarship award from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, and research funding from the International Long Term Ecological Research (ILTER) network and the Max Planck Society. He participated in IODP expedition 383 to the Antarctic Ocean aboard R/V JOIDES Resolution.
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6772-7269
| Acronym | Organisation | Name | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| Italian Association of Physical Geography and Geomorphology | Renato R. Colucci | Co-opted Component | |
| Italian Glaciological Committee | Renato R. Colucci | Co-opted Component | |
| Italian Glaciological Committee | Carlo Barbante, Jacopo Gabrieli | Components | |
| Marine and oceanographic facilities Technical-Operational Manager - R/V Laura Bassi |
Leonardo Langone | Component | |
| Polar Research Committee | Maurizio Azzaro | Vice President | |
| Polar Research Committee | Vito Vitale | Component | |
| Scientific Committee for the Arctic | Carlo Barbante, Vito Vitale | Components | |
| National Scientific Commission for Antarctica | Carlo Barbante | Component | |
| Joint Research Unit | Stefano Miserocchi | CNR Reprensentative (alternate) | |
| Italian Aerosol Society Working Group 4-aerosols in polar and remote areas |
Elena Barbaro | Component | |
| Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Antarctica working group |
Maurizio Azzaro, Mauro Mazzola | Components | |
| Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Arctic Task Force |
Carlo Barbante, Warren Cairns, Stefania Gilardoni, Leonardo Langone, Vito Vitale | Components | |
| Ministry of ecological transition
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora CITES.org |
Maurizio Azzaro | Component | |
| Ministero dell'Università e della Ricerca National technology clusters Cluster 6, Climate Energy and Mobility |
Carlo Barbante | Senior expert | |
| Museo Nazionale dell’Antartide Italian Collection of Antarctic Bacteria |
Angelina Lo Giudice | Scientific Responsible | |
| National Research Program in Antarctica Antarctic Interlaboratory System |
Maurizio Azzaro | Member of the Management Committee | |
| National Research Program in Antarctica
Committee for the Collection and Dissemination of Findings |
Angelina Lo Giudice, Andrea Spolaor | Components | |
| Italian Marine Biology Society Aquaculture Committee and Marine Climate Change Working Group |
Gabriella Caruso | Member of the Board | |
| Alpine Adriatic Meteorological Society | Renato R. Colucci | President |
Bachelor Degree in Environmental and Natural Sciences (University of Udine) and Master's Degree in Marine Biology (University of Bologna). Current position: research grant at the Institute of Polar Sciences (CNR-ISP) in Bologna. I'm studying microplastics and POP pollution in the continuum snow-ocean of the Arctic domain in the European Project Horizon-CL6-2023 INNOVATIVE COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT FOR BUILDING EFFECTIVE RESILIENCE AND ARCTIC OCEAN POLLUTION-CONTROL GOVERNANCE IN THE CONTEXT OF CLIMATE CHANGE (ICEBERG).
B. Sc. in Geological Sciences (University of Bologna, 2015) and M. Sc. in Geology and Land Management (University of Bologna, 2018).
He starts his research activity in 2018 at ISMAR-CNR in Bologna with an internship and then a fellowship, working on geochemical and biogeochemical analyses on marine sediment cores from the Adriatic Sea.
Currently employed as CTER at ISP-CNR in Bologna, he deals with biogeochemical analyses and the management of the organic geochemistry laboratory.
In September 2019 he started a PhD project in Polar Sciences at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. His project focuses on biogeochemical and sedimentological analyses of marine sediment cores from the Arctic and Subarctic region, to study the environmental variability, the carbon cycle and the glacial-interglacial cycles during the Late Quaternary.
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8034-6049
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).
The oceans and the polar seas are studied for their physio-chemical and biological properties, their water mass circulation patterns, their exchange of heat and energy with the atmosphere and the geological processes that are active in the different oceanic basins that contribute to the deposition of marine sediments.
Scientists at the Institute of Polar Sciences deal with several aspects of oceanography in the polar seas:
Physical and chemical oceanography
The polar oceans are one of the most important elements driving global climate. Dense and cold waters produced at high latitudes spread throughout the oceans and contribute to the global ocean Conveyor Belt. These water masses transport both heat and dissolved substances, gases and particles around the globe, significantly affecting the overall composition of the oceans and, ultimately, the Earth's climate. The chemical composition of water masses flowing in the polar seas, including their trace elements, organic compounds, stable and radiogenic isotope composition, allows us to evaluate the relationships between the different water masses (e.g. old vs. recently ventilated waters) and improve our understanding of the underlying processes. These data will then be used by climate modelers to tune and refine model parameters to improve understanding of the interactions between the water masses and improve our knowledge of the overall global climate system.
Open administration
The section Open Administration is organized according to Legislative Decree no. 33 of 14 March 2013 Reorganization of the discipline concerning the obligations for advertisement, transparency and diffusion of information by the public administration (GU Serie Generale n. 80, 05/04/2013), as amended by D.lgs. 25 May 2016 n. 97 (GU Serie Generale n. 132, 08/06/2016).
The manager of transparency and bribery prevention of Institute of Polar Sciences is Dr. Giulia Panieri, Director ISP-CNR (email direttore.isp AT cnr.it).
Provision of nomination (no.16 Date: 28/01/2025)
Invitations to tender and contracts
- year 2024
- year 2023
- year 2022
- year 2021
- year 2020
- year 2019
Previous directors:
• Mauro Sclavo - Interim Director (From 1st May 2024 until 31st January 2025)
• Carlo Barbante (From 1st May 2020 until 30th April 2024)
• Leonardo Langone - Interim Director (From 1st June 2019 until 30th April 2020)
In the Organic Geochemistry Laboratory at the Institute of Polar Sciences in Bologna, researchers and students deal with modern processes and paleo reconstructions by coupling the information provided by fossil biomarkers and stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes. Biomarkers and stable isotopes are geochemical proxies used to investigate the feedback mechanisms between the Earth climate and the biogeochemical cycles. The laboratory is equipped with various instruments to extract, purify and analyze a suite of different biomarkers, including terrestrial compounds (e.g. lignin phenols, aliphatic chain lipids, cutin-derived products) to understand land-ocean carbon exchange (e.g. permafrost thawing, river floods, etc.), alkenones for paleo-temperature reconstructions and highly branched isoprenoids for sea ice reconstructions. In addition, the laboratory is equipped with a Preparative Fraction Collector (Agilent-Gerstel) for the collection of individual compounds. This technique is especially useful for the radiocarbon analysis of biomarkers and can be very useful to derive an age model for the sedimentary archives and to investigate the processes related to permafrost thawing.
Facilities
The Organic Geochemistry Laboratory is equipped with several gas chromatographers and mass spectrometers for the analysis of carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes, measurement of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and sulphur content in organic matter and the extraction/quantification of organic biomarkers. The analytical facilities include:
- Thermo Fisher Scientific FLASH 2000 Element Analyzer coupled with a mass spectrometer DeltaQ (EA-IRMS)
- GC Agilent GC 7820-MSD EI 5977B
- GC Agilent 8860-FID G2790A
- GC Agilent 8890 equipped by a Gerstel Preparative Fraction Collector (PFC)
For more information: Dr Tommaso Tesi - tommaso.tesi AT cnr.it
High Performance Liquid Chromatograph Agilent 1100 Series HPLC Systems
Brief description
The HPLC-MS/MS system allows to quantitatively determine polar organic compounds in several environmental and vegetable matrices and biota samples. It is commonly used to investigate specific markers of sources or environmental processes in samples collected in polar regions. It is used to determine levoglucosan, key tracer of biomass burning, in ice core samples to provide historical profiles of fire regimes in paleoclimatic studies. Several water soluble organic compounds (free and combined amino acids, phenolic compounds) are determined using HPLC-MS/MS in aerosol samples to define chemical composition of atmosphere in urban and polar samples. Polar pesticide or toxins are commonly determined with HPLC-MS/MS in fresh water, sea water, biota or vegetable samples.
Instrument
High Performance Liquid Chromatograph Agilent 1100 Series HPLC Systems (Waldbronn, Germany) with a binary pump, vacuum degasser, autosampler and thermostated column compartment coupled with an API 4000 Triple Quadrupole Mass Spectrometer (Applied Biosystem/MSD SCIEX, Concord, Ontario, Canada) using a TurboV source.
Contact person: Dr. Roberta Zangrando - roberta.zangrando AT cnr.it - CNR-ISP Venice Headquarters
Matrix and type of measurement
Analysis of discrete samples of several matrices: ice, snow, atmospheric aerosol, lacustrine water, fresh water, sea water, sediment, vegetable and biota samples. Analysis of polar organic compounds such as for example anhydrosugars, amino acids, phenolic compounds, organic acids.
Agilent 1100 series HPLC system coupled with API 4000, High Performance Liquid Chromatograph coupled with tandem mass spectrometer (HPLC-MS/MS). (IMAGE)
Liquid chromatograph UHPLC mod. Dionex Ultimate 3000 Dual Pump RS
Brief description
This instrument is the key system to perform semicontinuous analysis of organic compounds in ice core samples.
Instrument
Liquid chromatograph UHPLC mod. Dionex Ultimate 3000 Dual Pump RS (Thermo ScientificTM) with vacuum degasser, column thermostat.
Contact person: Dr. Elena Barbaro - elena.barbaro AT cnr.it - CNR-ISP Venice Headquarters
Matrix and type of measurement
Semicontinuos analysis of ice cores. This system is coupled with continuous flow analysis (CFA).
Dionex Ultimate 3000 Dual Pump RS Thermo Scientific, Liquid chromatograph UHPLC Dual Pump (IMAGE)
Mercur Plus - Analytik Jena AG, cold vapor atomic fluorescence spectroscopy (CV-AFS).
Brief description
Cold vapor atomic fluorescence spectroscopy (CV-AFS) is an analytical technique used for the quantification of mercury at trace/ultra-trace levels. This technique is mainly used on “clean” aqueous matrices (eg ice, snow, and water) from remote and uncontaminated areas.
The sensitivity of the instrument is fully harnessed by using official methods such as USEPA1631 version E or UNI-EN 15853: 2010. The Hg present in the matrix is oxidized to Hg2+ with BrCl solution and then reduced to elemental mercury(Hg0) con SnCl2. The Hg0 is stripped from the aqueous matrix using an inert carrier gas (argon) and successively transported to gold traps for the pre-concentration by amalgam formation. Following thermal desorption at T between 450-500 °C, the Hg0 is desorbed from the gold traps and is transported into a quartz cell.
Light from a mercury vapor lamp passes through the quartz cell that contains the sample mercury in a flow of argon carrier gas and excites all the mercury atoms which then emit a characteristic fluorescence radiation at 253.7 nm. The amount of light emitted by the mercury atoms in the sample is proportional to the amount of mercury passing through the quartz cell. The CV-AFS of the CNR-ISP is located inside a dedicated clean room.
Instrument
Mercur Plus - Analytik Jena AG, cold vapor atomic fluorescence spectroscopy (CV-AFS).
Contact person: Dr. Massimiliano Vardè - massimiliano.varde AT cnr.it - CNR-ISP Venice Headquarters
Matrix and type of measurement
Aqueous matrices: atmospheric deposition, snow, ice, drinking water, mineral water, natural water, seawater. Mercury, as total mercury, or as dissolved, filtered and unfiltered after sample pre-treatment.
Mercur Plus - Analytik Jena AG, cold vapor atomic fluorescence spectroscopy (CV-AFS). (IMAGE)
Gas chromatograph coupled with mass spectrometer (GC-MS)
Brief description
The GC-MS system allows the quantification of volatile apolar compounds in environmental matrices. In the environmental field GC-MS finds main application in the determination of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) such as PCBs, PBDEs, PAHs, pesticides, in environmental matrices both in urban and remote areas such as polar areas. As well as it used in the determination of personal care products such as fragrances that have been observed not only in urban areas but also in Antarctica.
In the ISP-CNR there are 3 GC-MS systems. Among these, the system equipped with a cryogenic trap allows the preconcentration of volatile compounds (allowing the quantification of volatile compounds difficult to analyze in GC even at very low levels). There is also a GC-MS system equipped with a pyrolyser that allows the analysis of non-volatile materials such as plastic materials.
Instrument
• GC-MS 7890A-5975C (Agilent) /
• GC-MS GC7890A+MS5975C (Agilent) with cryogenic trap (MARKES Int)
• GC-MS GC6890+MS5973 (Agilent) with Pyrolysis system Pyroprobe 5000 Series
Contact person: Dr. Elena Argiriadis - elena.argiriadis AT cnr.it - CNR-ISP Venice Headquarters
Matrix and type of measurement
Analysis of discrete samples of several matrices: ice, snow, atmospheric aerosol, lacustrine water, fresh water, sea water, sediment, vegetable and biota samples. Compounds analyzed: Apolar volatile compounds such as PCBs, PBDEs, PAHs, pesticids, fragrances, sterols.
GC-MS 7890A-5975C Agilent (IMAGE)
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Where we are:The secondary office of Institute of Polar Sciences of Padova is located at the CNR Research Area of Padova, Corso Stati Uniti,4 - 35127 Padova. Map
How to find us:
- by train: from the Padova train station take bus n. 7;
- by car: from the A4 highway, exit at Padova Est and take the direction Piove di Sacco/Chioggia for a couple of kilometers. Take the exit n. 13 which brings to Corso Stati Uniti. After an U turn the CNR entrance is about 100 m after the underpass. From A13 highw, exit at Padova Zona Industriale and turn left in Corso Stati Uniti. The CNR entrance is at about 2 km on the left side (go up to the U turn);
- by plane: from the Venice or Treviso airport, take the train from Venezia-Mestre (or Treviso) to Padova and follow the indications given above for train.
Dr. Francesco Paladini de Mendoza's research focuses mainly on the dynamic processes at the water-sediment interface triggered by littoral and deep bottom currents. Over time, he has gained much experience in field measurements and management of instruments and platforms for monitoring the chemical and physical properties of the marine environment. He actively participates in the management of some observational network infrastructures (EMSO-ERIC and SiOS). He has published 21 scientific papers emphasizing measurement and multidisciplinary approach in the study of the marine environment. He has participated in oceanographic and geological-marine expeditions in the Mediterranean Sea and Oceans, accumulating more than 400 operational days at sea.
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9495-3878
He obtained the PhD title in Environmental Sciences: Marine Environment and Resources (XXXIII Cycle) at the University of Messina in 2011 (2011). The main research interests concern the ecology of meso/macroplankton in transitional and marine environments and the management of fixed observation sites (buoys and oceanographic beacons) aimed at the acquisition of chemical-physical parameters and the biological characterization of the communities. His main skills and competences concern the knowledge of zooplankton sampling and analysis techniques, the use and development of measuring and sampling instruments of both the physical and biological component. He has participated in numerous oceanographic campaigns in the Mediterranean Sea and in long-term monitoring and research programs in marine and transitional environments. He is the author/co-author of over 20 publications in peer-reviewed journals and numerous technical reports. He is currently involved in the implementation of the oceanographic observatory on the Svalbard Islands.
Ministero dell'Universita e Ricerca
Programma Ricerche Artico
Programma Nazionale di Ricerca in Antartide
Ministero degli Affari Esteri e della Cooperazione Internazionale
L'Italia e l’Artico
L’Italia e l’Antartide
CNR-ISP
National Research Council
Institute of Polar Sciences
c/o Scientific Campus - Ca' Foscari University Venice - Via Torino, 155 - 30172 VENEZIA MESTRE (VE)
Phone: +39 041 2348547 - E-mail: protocollo.isp AT pec.cnr.it
Fax: +39 041 2348 549 - Codice Fiscale: 80054330586 - P.I.:02118311006
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