The Plateau Rosa Station (PRS) was installed upon a large snow-clad mountain plateau far from urban and polluted zones. PRS is one of the highest monitoring regional stations of the World Meteorological Organization GAW Programme. It is very often located above the planetary boundary layer, suitable for the background measurement of greenhouse gases and other environment background parameters. A meteorological station, managed by the Italian Meteorological Service (WMO code: 16052) is located at a horizontal distance of about one hundred meters from the PRS collecting, in real time, air temperature, relative humidity, pressure and wind (speed and direction) data. The measurement of the most important greenhouse gases (excluding water vapour), such as CO2, CH4, and O3, is regularly carried out. The PRS station is equipped with an electrical heating system and does not use any fossil fuel. A refuge and a cable car are located in the vicinity of the measuring station; both only operate during daylight hours and are open for about eight months a year. The climate at the Plateau Rosa station is typical of a continental alpine location, with relatively large diurnal and seasonal temperature variations of 6-8°C in a range between -15 and 4°C. Frequent atmospheric pressure variations and strong winds (generally > 4 m s−1) are documented. In the 1971–2008 period, wind speeds < 1 m s−1) occurred during about 17% of the measurements and winds from NE (about 25% of the events) prevailed.

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Infrastructure to host samples have to be assembled. Cost could vary depending on necessities (and agreement). No special cost can be indicated at the moment. Other information: http://cimone.isac.cnr.it/data-access, https://online.ucpress.edu/elementa/article/8/1/00042/114497/Decadal-O3-variability-at-the-Mt-Cimone-WMO-GAW

CNR-ISAC

Francescopiereo Calzolari (CNR), Calzolari@isac.cnr.it Cristiani Pierangela (RSE), Pierangela.Cristiani@rse-web.it
 Calzolari@isac.cnr.it