Press releases and news

The 19th winter campaign of the National Antarctic Research Program (PNRA), funded by the Ministry of University and Research and managed by ENEA for organization and logistics and by the Cnr for scientific coordination, kicks off. 12 selected winter residents will spend nine months in complete isolation: 5 Italians from the PNRA, 6 French from the Paul Emile Victor Polar Institute (IPEV) and 1 German physician from the European Space Agency (ESA).

In Antarctica, the second drilling campaign of the Beyond EPICA - Oldest Ice project, at the remote field site Little Dome C, has been successfully completed. This project is an unprecedented challenge for paleoclimatology studies and its goal is to go back 1.5 million years in time to reconstruct past temperatures and greenhouse gas concentrations through the analysis of an ice core extracted from the depths of the ice sheet.

78° 44.280' S, Bay of Whales. These are the coordinates of the point recently reached by the Icebreaker Laura Bassi, under the guidance of ENEA expedition leader Riccardo Scipinotti. It is the southernmost point ever reached in the Ross Sea in Antarctica, and generally the southernmost point ever reached by a ship. The icebreaker, which is taking part in the oceanographic campaign of the 38th Italian expedition of the National Antarctic Research Programme (PNRA), funded by the Ministry of University and Research (MUR) and managed by ENEA for logistics and the Cnr for scientific planning, has thus set an absolute world record.

The Mediterranean is increasingly at risk due to an increase in emissions - particularly CO₂ and methane - and severe heat waves, as shown by ENEA data of its climate observatory of Lampedusa, an international point of reference on climate change. Data show that in the last quarter of a century CO₂ has increased from about 365 to about 420 parts per million (+15%), methane from about 1825 to 1985 parts per billion (+9%), while the average temperature by about 0.5°C, together with the frequency and intensity of heat waves.

'CityTree' is an innovative mobile plant infrastructure which improves urban air quality thanks to its ability to significantly reduce fine dust concentrations. Conceived as a green urban furnishing solution for streets and squares, schools, shopping centres, companies and airports, the technological device was tested as part of the European project 'CityTree Scaler', which included ENEA, Cnr - Institute of Atmospheric and Climate Sciences (ISAC) and Proambiente Consortium, in collaboration with the German start-up Green City Solutions which produced the panel. The findings were published in the open source online journal Atmosphere.

ENEA and the Navy have renewed their collaboration agreement with the aim to promote joint research activities both in the Italian seas and in the most remote regions of the planet like the Arctic and Antarctica. The protocol was signed by Chief of Staff of the Navy, Admiral Enrico Credendino, and President of ENEA Gilberto Dialuce.