The first national conference of ICOS Italia has been held in Rome, 27 - 28 September 2022. ICOS Italia is the Joint Research Unit of the Italian network that contributes to ICOS (Integrated Carbon Observation System, www.icos-ri.eu), the European Research Infrastructure devoted to the study of the carbon cycle.
About 70 studies were presented during the conference, over 50 research institutions were represented for over 150 participants. ICOS Italia has decided to open its first national conference also to actors not directly involved in the ICOS infrastructure, with the aim of bringing together the entire Italian community involved in the study of boh natural and human-related processes that determine the atmospheric variability of greenhouse gases.
As regards the contributions presented by CNR-ISAC, Cosimo Fratticioli discussed the possibility of using continuous observations of methane (CH4) and carbon monoxide (CO) carried out at Monte Cimone (ICOS class 2 atmospheric site and global GAW / WMO station; www.cimone.isac.cnr.it) to estimate methane emissions from Northern Italy. Michela Maione (University of Urbino, associated with CNR-ISAC) presented the observations of "synthetic" greenhouse gases (such as CFCs and HCFCs) conducted at Monte Cimone, as part of the AGAGE global observation program (Advanced Global Atmospheric Gases Experiment, https://agage.mit.edu/). It was shown how these observations, together with those conducted by other European AGAGE sites and in synergy with atmospheric transport models, can be effectively used to quantify emissions at national and regional European scales.
Particular attention was paid to the study of the impact of forest fire emissions on the variability of greenhouse gases in the Mediterranean region. Claudia Roberta Calidonna showed the impact of emissions from fires in Calabria and North Africa on the carbon dioxide (CO2) observed in the summer of 2021 at the CNR - ISAC observatory in Lamezia Terme (regional GAW / WMO station). In addition, two poster communications were focused on this topic by making use of observations conducted by the CNR-ISAC at the Monte Cimone observatory.
More info can be found at https://www.icos-italy.it
