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 t 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
Published in Research Stations