IT/PNRA
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The knowledge of properties and quantitative measurement of solid precipitation in Antarctica is of fundamental importance as precipitation represents the main input of Antarctic ice sheet mass, the variations of which have a direct and non-negligible effect on the average level of the oceans at global scale. Characterization and quantification of the precipitation is crucial in defining and validating global climate models and numerical weather prediction models, as well as anchoring and validating space-borne remote sensing estimates from missions like CloudSAT and EarthCARE. A snow and cloud microphysics observatory has been set up at the Italian Antarctic station Mario Zucchelli (MZS), integrating the pre-existing instrumentation for weather measurements. In particular, a 24-GHz vertical pointing Doppler radar, the METEK's Micro Rain Radar 2 (MRR-2), and a laser disdrometer, the OTT Parsivel, have been integrated with the advanced weather stations, radiosoundings and the ceilometer already present at MZS. The synergy between the set of instruments allows for characterizing precipitation and studying properties of Antarctic precipitation such as dimension, shape, fall behavior, particle number density, particles size distribution, particles terminal velocity, reflectivity factor and information on their vertical extent. APP started as a four-year project in July 2017, covering the Special Observation Period (SOP) in the Southern Hemisphere of Year of Polar Predicition (YOPP) period. APP can provide specific measurements for precipitation occurring over the Antarctic coast at high temporal resolution, in particular specific snow products such as snow rate, snow depth and their water equivalent. In November 2023 the observatory received an additional instrument, the Thies Clima 3D Stereo imaging disdrometer, which was previously installed for one year in Italy for testing, at the Casale Calore (AQ) meteorological observation site from the University of L'Aquila. The research team of the first two years was coordinated by Nicoletta Roberto, with operational units at the Rome unit of the CNR-ISAC (Luca Baldini, Elisa Adirosi, Stefano Dietrich) and at the Department of Physics and Astronomy of the University of Bologna (Rolando Rizzi, Federico Porcù, Tiziano Maestri, Alessandro Bracci). From 2020 the coordination of the project passed to Luca Baldini (CNR-ISAC) and the work team was extended with the research fellows Giacomo Roversi and Sabina Angeloni.
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Terra Nova Bay (Ross Sea, Antarctica), characterized by a moltitude of ice tongues flowing from land to sea, represents an ideal study site for understanding the complex interaction between relative sea level variations and ice sheet dynamics during the Holocene. The DISGELI project, thanks to the combination of innovative technology and traditional methods for geomorphologic and stratigraphic analysis, aims to: i) reconstruct the local variations of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet after the Last Glacial Maximum; ii) provide a time constrain for the deglaciation processes along the coast; iii) reconstruct, with unprecedent detail, the relative sea level variations during Holocene in the Drygalski basin. The morpho-bathymetric and topographic data obtained through this study will be integrated using digital terrain models based on the analyses of key areas onland, where palaeo-coastlines and sea-level markers have been identified.
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Terra Nova Bay (Ross Sea, Antarctica), characterized by a moltitude of ice tongues flowing from land to sea, represents an ideal study site for understanding the complex interaction between relative sea level variations and ice sheet dynamics during the Holocene. The DISGELI project, thanks to the combination of innovative technology and traditional methods for geomorphologic and stratigraphic analysis, aims to: i) reconstruct the local variations of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet after the Last Glacial Maximum; ii) provide a time constrain for the deglaciation processes along the coast; iii) reconstruct, with unprecedent detail, the relative sea level variations during Holocene in the Drygalski basin. The morpho-bathymetric and topographic data obtained through this study will be integrated using digital terrain models based on the analyses of key areas onland, where palaeo-coastlines and sea-level markers have been identified.
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The HF radar denominated Dome C East (DCE) emits pulses of HF waves (8–20 MHz) which are refracted in the ionosphere and can be back-scattered by field aligned decameter scale irregularities of the electron density at distances ranging from 180 to 3550 km from each radar and at heights between 100 and 400 km. The radar signals are steered in 16 emission beams, separated by 3.3 degrees, in an azimuthal interval of 52 degrees, usually swept in 2 minutes. The signals are emitted according to multi-pulse sequences that allow the real-time acquisition of the autocorrelation function of the back scatter echoes, from which the reflected power, the VD Doppler velocity of the irregularities, and the spectral width can be calculated for each distance-azimuth cell. VD coincides with the velocity of the plasma along the line of sight. DCE is part of the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN). In SuperDARN, pairs of radars, typically located at 2000 km distance and oriented so that their beams cross each other over the region to be studied, are used to get the velocity vector in two dimensions. DCE forms a common-volume pair with the SuperDARN South Pole radar (U.S.). SuperDARN radars are devoted to the study of ionosphere, between 100 and 400 km from ground, in the polar, auroral and medium latitude regions. The SuperDARN and DCE scientific objectives span from fundamental plasma physics to space weather in the framework of Sun-Earth relations. Italy participates in the SuperDARN international network also with the Dome C North radar(DCN), installed at the Concordia station in January 2019 and operative since then.
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The DoCTOr (Dome C Tropospheric Observer) project aims to establish an integrated monitoring system to measure simultaneously, continuously and with a high temporal resolution the water vapor and temperature vertical profiles and the radiative exchanges vs. altitude. The monitoring will enable us to detect both long-term trends and fast-evolving phenomena, the latter useful in the interpretation of the causes of the first. This task is performed mainly through remote sensing techniques, allowing for the study of a highly unperturbed atmospheric sample. The integration of all the deployed instrumentation in a single acquisition system simplifies greatly the data analysis needed to retrieve the final products: The REFIR-PAD spectroradiometer (already operating in dome C since 2011) will provide spectrally-resolved atmospheric downwelling radiances in the mid to far-infrared spectral range, while a laser diode based profiler will characterize the microphysics state of the first 3 km of the atmosphere.A real-time data analysis system based on an atmospheric radiative transfer model will then retrieve from the acquired data the temperature and water vapor profiles and the cloud optical thickness in almost all weather conditions found at Dome C, with a temporal resolution of about 10 minutes.
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Basic and other measurements of radiation at Concordia Station during "November" "2018": for other details see the full metadata description at https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.896816
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The HF radar denominated Dome C North (DCN) emits pulses of HF waves (8–20 MHz) which are refracted in the ionosphere and can be back-scattered by field aligned decameter scale irregularities of the electron density at distances ranging from 180 to 3550 km from the radar and at heights between 100 and 400 km. The radar signals are steered in 16 emission beams, separated by 3.3 degrees, in an azimuthal interval of 52 degrees, usually swept in 2 minutes. The signals are emitted according to multi-pulse sequences that allow the real-time acquisition of the autocorrelation function of the back scatter echoes, from which the reflected power, the VD Doppler velocity of the irregularities, and the spectral width can be calculated for each distance-azimuth cell. VD coincides with the velocity of the plasma along the line of sight. DCN is part of the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN). In SuperDARN, pairs of radars, typically located at 2000 km distance and oriented so that their beams cross each other over the region to be studied, are used to get the velocity vector in two dimensions. DCN forms a common-volume pair with the SuperDARN Zhongshan radar (China). SuperDARN radars are devoted to the study of ionosphere, between 100 and 400 km from ground, in the polar, auroral and medium latitude regions. The sscientific objectives of SuperDARN and DCN span from fundamental plasma physics to space weather, in the framework of Sun-Earth relations. Italy participates in the SuperDARN international network also with the Dome C East (DCE) radar,installed at Concordia in 2013 and operative since then.
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Permafrost hosts a potentially large pool of microorganisms, which is supposed to be the only life forms known to have retained viability over geological time. Thawing of the permafrost renews their physiological activity and exposes ancient life to modern ecosystems (Gilichinsky et al, 2008). The adaptation mechanisms of microorganisms, at species or population level, make them susceptible to extreme environmental conditions. The survival of microorganisms in permafrost raises the question of what constitutes the limit for microbial life (Steven et al., 2006; Wagner 2008).
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De novo transcriptome analysis of Colobanthus quitensis Antarctic vascular plant grown under condition miming the global warm-up.
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Emerging COntaminants in Antarctic Snow: sources and TRAnsport (ECO AS:TRA) Prog. PNRA18_00229 Snow samples