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 the 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
  

Graduated in Environmental Sciences (bachelor’s degree: University of Milano-Bicocca, master’s degree: University of Trieste). PhD in Science and Management of Climate Change at the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice.
Actual position: temporary science researcher at the Institute of Polar Sciences of the National Research Council of Italy (ISP-CNR) in Venice. I had previously a research fellowship and occasional collaboration contract at the Department of Mathematics and Geosciences of the University of Trieste, research fellowships at the Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics of the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, research fellowships at the IDPA-CNR (then ISP-CNR) and a scholarship on the Italy-Slovenia InterReg project ACQUAVITIS at the Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics of the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice.
Principal Investigator of the PNRA 2018 project WHETSTONE on daily precipitation at Dome c, Antarctica. I have been collaborating with prof. Barbara Stenni for more than a decade and more recently with doc. Mauro Masiol. My research field is the isotopic geochemistry of water molecules, applied to polar and Alpine ice core for paleoclimate reconstructions, to Antarctic precipitation, to local precipitation in the Veneto region, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Slovenia and other areas, to surface and deep waters, sea water and water extracted from plants and soils.
I use Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (IRMS) coupled with an HDO equilibration device and GasBench and also Laser Absorption Spectroscopy coupled with an autosampler and vaporizer and with an Induction Module for oxygen and hydrogen isotopic composition measurements.
I participated in the processing of the Ortles Alpine ice core in the cold room of the Ca’ Foscari University/CNR in Venice and of the SolarIce Antarctic ice core in the EuroCold lab at the University of Milano-Bicocca.

Scopus - Author ID: 57191615614

Brief description
The experimental activities carried out at the MAMB laboratory in Messina are aimed at the ecological study of microorganisms by applying specific methods for the determination of the abundance and biomass of prokaryotes (Bacteria and Archaea) and phytoplankton, as well as for the morphometric and morphological description at the cellular level. The evaluation of these phenotypic characteristics provides a different approach to the analysis of the ecosystem structure and allows to evaluate the heterogeneity of natural populations. Variations in cell size, shape and morphology are considered sensitive indicators of trophic and climatic changes in ecosystems. The laboratory also carries out analyzes for the quantification of viable (Live / Dead) and respiring (CTC +) cells using specific microbial biomarkers. The laboratory activities are also in support of the EcoBiM and BiogeM Laboratories.

Matrices of interest
The matrices analyzed are mostly attributable to the hydrosphere (marine, river and lake waters, brines), soil, sediments, biofilm, cryosphere (permafrost, snow, sea and continental ice, intrapermafrost brines) and aquatic organisms.

Applied experimental approaches

- determination of biomass of prokaryotes by counting, and morphometric and morphological analysis of cells, using selective filters for DAPI (4 ', 6-diamidine-2-phenylindole);
- determination of cells with primary fluorescence using specific selective filters;
- quantification of cells endowed with respiratory activity (5-Cyano-2,3-ditolyl-tetrazolium chloride-CTC), using selective filters for rhodamine;
- quantification of viable cells with intact membranes (Live / Dead) using selective filters for fluorescein and rhodamine;
- identification of target bacterial cells by immunofluorescence techniques (fluoresceinated antibodies);
- estimation of the relative abundance of microbial phylogenetic groups using CARD-FISH (catalyzed reporter deposition-fluorescence in situ hybridization).

Instrumentation
- Zeiss AXIOPLAN 2 Imaging epifluorescence microscope equipped with AXIOCAMHR (Zeiss) digital video camera and AXIOVISION 3.1 software. Technical features: high pressure mercury vapor lamp (100 W); 100XPlan-Neofluar immersion objective; 10 X eyepieces, one of which has a squared reticle; interchangeable and appropriate optical filter sets for:

DAPI: G365 excitation, FT395 color divider and LP420 barrier filter;
Primary fluorescence: BP450-490 / FT510 / LP515;
Rhodamine: BP546 / 12; FT580; LP590;
Fluorescein: BP450-490; FT510; LP520.
For details: Sig. Giovanna Maimone – giovanna.maimone AT cnr.it

Graduated in Chemistry in 2023 at the University of Bologna with a thesis on the chemical characterization, by means of 1H-NMR spectroscopy, of the organic aerosol sampled in Ny-Ålesund.
Since December 2023 PhD student in Polar Sciences at the Ca' Foscari University of Venice. The research, conducted in conjunction with the Institute of Polar Sciences on the Milan and Venice campuses, aims to improve the knowledge of aerosol-cloud interactions in the Arctic climate system. The microphysical and chemical properties of atmospheric particulate matter are investigated in detail to assess particles' ability to act as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) and ice nuclei (IN).