The CNR-IIA monitoring site on the island of Lampedusa was inaugurated in November 2023 and is the result of the collaboration between CNR and ENEA for carrying out research and development activities in the field of environmental monitoring.
It is located in a privileged position, in the heart of the Mediterranean, and is an ideal site for the measurement of many chemical-physical parameters of interest for the study of climate and air pollution.
It was born from the desire to integrate the EMEP (European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme) network in Italy, adding to the national and international sites which in various capacities already provide data to the network and supporting the sister site located at the A. Liberti Station of the CNR-IIA in Montelibretti.
The Lampedusa EMEP site is equipped with the instrumentation necessary to provide the chemical-physical data required for Level 1 EMEP stations. The data collected are of fundamental importance to describe the main aspects of tropospheric chemistry and to evaluate emissions, concentrations , depositions and the extent of transboundary flows of the main air pollutants.
The measurements carried out on a daily basis concern the determination of PM mass concentrations10 and PM2.5, organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) in PM2.5, of inorganic compounds in air, both in the particulate and gaseous phase (SO2, SO42-, I have not3-,HNO3, N.H.4+, N.H.3, (sNO3, sNH4), HCl, Na+, K+, That2+, mg2+). In precipitation, inorganic compounds (Cl-, NO3-, SO42-, Na+, N.H.4+, K+, mg2+, Ca2+, H+ (pH)) and heavy metals (Cd, Pb, Cu, Zn, As, Cr, Ni). NO concentrations are also continuously measured2 and O3 and the main meteorological parameters such as the volume of precipitation, temperature, wind direction and speed, relative humidity, atmospheric pressure.